My Life With Dimitri
by AnnabethCerece
Summary: After being abandoned by her parents, blamed for murder, and catching the love of her life kissing the woman trying to kill her, Rose retreats to her bedroom to look back on her life and see what went wrong, and how she can correct past mistakes. Will she realize what she has to do, before the people hunting her succeed in their quest for her blood? *All Human*
1. 3 Years Old

I'm laying on my soft bed, with dried tears on my face, trying to figure out what went wrong. Why did he leave me, for Tasha of all people? The images of them pressed up against the wall making out makes me want to smash things, particularly her snooty face, but dear Mummy wouldn't really be happy with that considering Dad had just bailed me out of jail a couple days ago. Maybe that's when my life went to hell. Or maybe just thinking that I could be with Dimitri without any cares or worries was just foolish thinking.

Maybe if I go back to the beginning of everything I can figure out just when my ignorance got the best of my heart.

~14 years ago~  
>*age 3*<br>-Location, Russia-

I was down stairs in the workout room learning how to throw punches with my Daddy when the doorbell rang.

"Oh, that must be Olena. Come on Princess, there's someone I want you to meet." He took my hand and led me upstairs to the door. When he opened it, there stood a pretty woman, holding the hand of a boy who looked to be the same age as me.

"Hello Abe, it's so nice to see you again. Is Janie here?"

"It's nice to see you too Olena. I'm sorry but Janie isn't here. Just me and Rose. Excuse our appearances, we were downstairs working on her fighting skills when you rang." She chuckled.

"It's alright. I teach Dimitri myself too." I decided that I liked this lady. She seemed really nice and smiled a lot.

"Ah, so this young man must be your son, Dimitri. It's nice to meet you Dimitri. Say hello Rose." I looked up at my Daddy and then back down at Dimitri. I stuck out my hand and smiled.

"I'm Rosemarie Hathaway, but you can call me Rose." Normally when I do this with other children I'm first meeting, they hide behind their parents legs or start crying, so when Dimitri toddled up to me and grabbed my hand, I was shocked, but impressed.

"I'm Dimitri Belikov. It's nice to meet you Rose." Okay I like him. I looked at Olena and asked,

"Mrs. Belikov, you said that you are teaching Dimitri to fight correct?" She smiled down at me.

"Yes, and you may call me Olena."

"Okay." I then looked up at my Daddy. "Daddy can me and Dimitri go downstairs and fight?"

Both of our parents eyes sparkled with amusment.

"Can we Mommy?" I looked at Dimitri again. My Daddy had always taught me to size up an opponent before fighting them. He was slightly taller than me, and a little bulkier, but that was normal for other boys.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yay!" Dimitri and I cheered at the same time.

We spent the next six hours sparing, giggling, and talking about ourselves. When it was finally time for him to go home, instead of shaking my hand he hugged me.

"You're my bestest friend Rose." I swear I had never smiled that big in my life.

"You're my bestest friend to 'Mitri. Olena and Daddy stood back watching us with smiles on their face. As they walked down the walk way I watched them through the window. Daddy came up to me and said,

"Now don't be running off and getting married with Rose." I heard the teasing tone in his voice and smiled.

"Don't worry Daddy, I won't."

The rest of that year continued the same, but I never did beat Dimitri during our sparring sessions. Now that I think about, I was a pretty well-behaved three year old. I wonder what happened to that sweet little girl. Now all I see in the mirror is an accused murderer and a failure at life. Oh fun.

**The plot of this story is more or less Rose looking back at each individual year from the time she met Dimitri to the current time, to try and figure out where their relationship went wrong. Each chapter will be the next year, like the next chapter will be when they're both four years old. And most of the time I'll try to end with a scene from the present, in either Rose, Dimitri, or perhaps even Tasha's point of view. And if anyone wants to PM me, not review (although I do love them ) any ideas for the story I will be glad to try and fit them in.**

**RosemarieMazur**


	2. 4 Years Old

**So in this chapter, Dimitri and Rose are 4 years old. I'll be going into their friendship in more detail and Rose gets some sad news, news that might spark her bad streaks from here on out. I'm hoping to go into some of Abe's Mafia business stuff and how he is grooming Rose to take over it when she's an adult**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Vampire Academy, or Dimitri, or Tasha. I only want Tasha so then I can officially kill her and make the world happy.**

I've resorted to writing down these past years because my thoughts are such a jumbled mess right now. I kept getting distracted. My cat, Ally, wasn't helping either. She only reminded me of him, but I still loved her, even with her constant purring and rubbing. I was writing in pencil but after snapping 3 of them in half I switched to a military pen my father gave me. I now know why he gave it to me. I guess my next step is when we were 4 years old. I think that the week of my birthday was the happiest yet most stressful one I had experienced that year. Come to think of it, I can't really recall anything else from that year unless it was spent with Dimitri.

Well damn it, that's a waste of memory.

~13 years ago~  
>*Age 4*<br>-Location, Russia-

The week of my birthday, April 25- May 3, was finally here. My actual birth date is May 3rd, but my family did things differently for me on my birthday. Every morning during that week when I woke up, a cupcake made with brownie mix and a note taped to it would be waiting for me on the kitchen counter. Of course I would gobble the cupcake and then read the note. The note would be a clue to the next note. There were 4 notes in all this year, one for each of my birthdays. When I found all four notes, the last one would lead me to my first present. I would get up every morning and do this until the last day- the actual day of my birthday. I would still get my cupcake but I had to wait until my party to get my present. I'm home schooled so the only other kids I know are from Olena's fighting classes. All of the other kids my age from that class were invited and we would have a competition. The winner would get a special prize, but I had to fight for my present. Even if I lost, I would still get it, but that has never happened before.

On the first day of that week, as soon as I woke up, I bolted from my bed and shot straight downstairs for my cupcake and to start the hunt for my present. But when I got down there, at first I was happy. Dimitri was sitting on the counter waiting for me eating something. My cupcake. That's when my mood turned south.

"Good morning Rose." After knowing each other for a year now, we had both dropped out formalities we had used when we first met.

"What are you eating Dimitri?" It was more of a statement than a question, but he stilled answered.

"A brownie cupcake. Why?" I frowned and marched up to him.

"Why are you eating my cupcake Dimitri?" Again, more of a statement than a question.

"Because it's not yours." My temper spiked.

"What makes you th-" I was cut off by something delicious being shoved into my mouth. I swallowed it and grinned.

"Black bread! It's so yummy!" I wasn't mad anymore.

"Really? I was really hoping you liked it because I made it myself. Just for you Roza." His smile was infectious so I couldn't help smiling back.

"I wish I had some more." Right then he pulled out 4 dozen slices of them from behind his back.

"Happy early Birthday." I set the tray on the counter and hugged him.

"Thanks 'Mitri."

After eating about a dozen pieces of black bread a piece, he helped me decipher the clue cards and we found my present- a whole bunch of new tank tops and training pants.

The rest of the week continued with Dimitri meeting me in my kitchen every morning, eating black bread, finding my presents, and playing all day until the sun set.  
>When it was finally the day of my birthday, I was woke up by something soft rubbing up against my face.<p>

"What the hell?" I said sleepily as the thing continued to rub, and pur? I sat up and looked at the thing.

It's was a kitten. She had long thick fur, that was orange and white. Her nose was pink, with a single orange spot to the left side of it. Her amber eyes looked into my chocolate ones.

"Mew?" My girly side came out then.

"Aw your so sweet and fluffy!" I looked over to Dimitri who was sitting on the side of my bed smiling. Daddy had let him spend the night here.

"What's her name?" He looked amused by this.

"Annabelle. Sonya named her. I figured that this would be a neat way to wake you up today." I hugged Dimitri and went back to petting Annabelle.

"Rosemarie, it's time to get dressed for your party." Mommy called up. I looked at the clock an widened my eyes in surprise. It was 11 o'clock.

"What did your Mom pick out for you this year?" I got up and walked over the the bag hanging on the wall. I ripped the protective bag off quick brutally but I was going to hate it anyway, so I didn't care.

I heard Dimitri burst out laughing behind me. It was a very frilly, very fluffy pink dress with a gazillion bows everywhere. I like fluffy cats, not fluffy dresses. Actually, no, I hate dresses in general.

"If Mommy thinks I'm gonna wear this thing, she's mistaken."

I shuffled through my closet until I found a red tank top and black basketball shorts and my favorite hat that Dimitri had gotten me for Christmas.

I heard the door shut and Dimitri go downstairs while I changed. When I was done I called him back up to help me with something. I had been feeling quite rebellious towards my Mommy lately, so I really wanted to shock her when I went downstairs. I had Dimitri bring black face paint so that I could put black stripes under my eyes. I looked in my mirror and grinned. Daddy's gonna be so proud.

When we walked downstairs Mommy had her camera ready and as soon as I stepped into view, she snapped a picture.

"Rosemarie Elizabeth Hathaway Mazur! What are you wearing? I picked out a very pretty dress for you to wear."

"Oh Janie, darling, when will you learn? We had a little hell raiser here. She's not going to want to wear a dress. And besides, she would just have to change for the tournament."

After sighing in defeat, Mommy bent down and hugged me.

"Happy Birthday darling. Are you ready to go outside and start the party?"

"Hell yeah!" Daddy grinned and Mommy let out a deep breath.

The whole first half of the party flew by, until it was time to fight. One by one, I took them down. By the end of each fight, we were both on the mat giggling like crazy. Until I got to this annoying girl named Tasha. I had never liked Tasha, mainly because she was whiney, and she wanted my 'Mitri. She was always jealous that Dimitri spent all his time with me and not her. So when she stepped on the mat, _my _territory, I felt nothing but joy when I pinned her in less than 10 seconds.

"No fair! You cheated!" Tasha screamed as she stomped her foot.

Everyone just ignored her and pushed her off the mat so that I could face my last opponent, Dimitri.

It was a tough fight and he won in the end, but that was no shock. During classes, Dimitri and I always fought together. We were constantly challenging each other and improving our skills. Our Daddy's were proud.

After the party was over and I had opened all my gifts, everyone left except Dimitri. We were playing twister when my parents came in with grave looks on their faces.

"Rose, honey, we need to talk to you. Dimitri you can stay too."

"Okay." I sat down across from them and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Rose, Daddy's work is being... moved. We have to move with it."

"Okay. And?" Something in me knew that it wasn't just down the street, but I wanted to ignore that feeling.

"Honey, we're moving to America. It's far, far, far away from here."

"Okay. Can I go to bed now?"

"Yes. Good night." I kissed them both good night and went upstairs. Dimitri was staying the night again so he followed me up.

"Roza, are you okay?"

"No." He came over and pulled me into a hug just when I burst into tears.

"No! I don't wanna move! I don't wanna leave you 'Mitri! They can't make me!" I spent most of the night crying and talking to Dimitri.

Two weeks later I was staring out of the private jet's window staring at my best friends' sad face and waving bye.

Maybe that's when the cracks in our relationship formed. I had only known him for a year, and we were only four, but that's when I first started to love him. It's also the time I met the person that would land me in jail for murder. Talk about your past coming up and kicking your ass.

**Personally, I thought that this was a little strained, but I hope you guys will still like it.**

**RosemarieMazur**


	3. 5 to 15 Years Old

**So in this chapter, Rose and Dimitri and the bitch...Do I even need to say who it is?... are all 5 years old. Rose has been away from Russia, and Dimitri, for almost six months now. Plus, Abe and Janine have enrolled her in St. Vladimir's. Rose is starting to feel resentment towards her mother now because when they moved there, her mother stayed in Russia with Olena. Rose thought that it was unfair so of course she would throw a fit about it.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately Richelle Mead owns VA and Dimitri... I will give her credit for creating him though...**

I was five when my parents sent me to St. Vladimir's boarding school. It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't sent me only two weeks after we had been in the US. The fact that my mother had stayed behind with Olena, leaving me all alone in Montana. Yes my father was there, but he was so wrapped up in his work that he didn't have time to pay attention to me like he used to. I know now that someone had threatened us so he took me to Montana to keep me safe from the people after us. I hadn't known that at the time, so that's when my famous Hathaway- Mazur attitude was born.

Before I left Russia, Dimitri and I had made an agreement that he would e-mail me every day, and write at least once a week. For the first five months, everything went great, and we exchanged countless e-mails, phone calls, and letters. But one day, he didn't call, he didn't send an e-mail, or even send a letter. At first, I thought that maybe a severe snow storm had taken out their internet and land lines, but a quick phone call to my mother confirmed my worst fears- he had just stopped writing.

My attitude had been turned on full-out bitch mode. No one could get me to calm down, and teachers were constantly putting me in time out. Until one of the best things in my life happened.

I met my best friend Vasilisa Dragomir, otherwise known as Lissa.

~12 years ago~  
>*Age 5*<br>-Location: USA Montana, St. Vladimir's Academy-

'Mitri had stopped writing and calling me about three weeks ago. Daddy said that he was very sorry about that but I needed to stop acting like a 3 year old. That just made me want to hit things even more.

I had called Mommy that morning to ask her about it again and she told me to just leave it be and forget about him. He was my bestest friend. How could I forget him? That conversation had left me steaming when I walked down stairs to wait for my teacher to 'collect' me. I asked why we had to be led around everywhere when I first arrived and was told we weren't responsible enough to wander by ourselves. I thought the whole thing was stupid, but I went with it.

Once she picked up my group of kids we headed to the class room. While we were walking, I was aimlessly looking around when I spotted a new girl walking with us.

She had long, straight, shiny blonde hair, and big jade colored eyes. She was tall for her age, but then again a lot of kids were like that around here. Her beauty wasn't what caught my attention though. She looked scared. I don't know what came over me, but suddenly I felt the need to punch whoever was scaring her. Subtly, I moved closer to her and then sat with her in the class room.

I could tell that she wanted to talk to me, but every time she would open her mouth she would close it and look at her hands and blush.  
>Right as I was about to ask her what her name was, the teacher called our attention.<p>

"All right class, time to listen. Today we're going to work on writing our names, with partners. I'll pair you up." I watched as she walked around the class pairing people up. Surprisingly, she paired me up with the blonde girl.

"Rose, I'll pair you with Vasilisa and please, behave yourself." I rolled my eyes and looked at Vasilisa. I stuck out my hand like I always do and introduced myself.

"I'm Rose, and your Vasilisa?" At first she looked at my hand funny, but then an almost regal air came over her.

"Yes, I am Vasilisa, but please, call me Lissa." She shook my hand.

"That's pretty. Where are you from?"

"Romania, but I don't have the accent because I moved here when I was 3."

"Cool. So what are we supposed to be doing?"

"Writing our names I think."

We spent the next five minutes writing 'Rose' and 'Lissa' multiple times until the teacher came over to check on us.

"Excuse me ladies but you're supposed to write your full names. Rosemarie Hathaway and Vasilisa Dragomir please."

"What? We're five! It's a miracle we can even write Rose and Lissa. How the hell do you expect us to write out our entire names? We can't even help each other."

"I told you not to cop an attitude with me Ms. Hathaway and to watch your mouth. Now write your names."

"No." Stupid bitch. If she's gonna be that bossy of course I'm gonna get an attitude with her.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. No. We're five. We can't write our full names yet."

"That's another day of detention for you Ms. Hathaway. Now pack up your things and go to the time out corner, you too Ms. Dragomir." Lissa's eyes widened at the sudden attention.

"She didn't do anything. You can't punish her!"

"I'm your elder Ms. Hathaway. I can do what I want."

She started to walk away, but I wasn't going to put up with it any longer. I picked up my book and aimed. She turned around right as I was going to release it and tried to duck, but luckily I knew how to hit a moving target.

"You stupid fascist bastard!" I didn't know what it meant but I had heard Daddy say it before. What the hell, it couldn't hurt.

Needless to say, I got detention for the rest of the week.

Lissa and I had grown closer since that day. She didn't get detention and for some reason that made her forever grateful. We remained friends though the years and eventually I started to forget Dimitri until he was just a distance memory.

On my tenth birthday, I decided that he wasn't worth clinging onto. He was just a stupid memory that I didn't need. So I grabbed a box and packed up everything that reminded me of him, and shoved it in the back of my closet. I didn't need him. I had wonderful friends now. Lissa, Eddie, Mason, Christian, and Mia were my best friends in the whole world.  
>They lessened the pain of not seeing my parents for 5 years, and the feeling of abandonment. Four years later, a few months after my fourteenth birthday, they were my life support when I died. I had been coming back from a short weekend- getaway to a water park with Lissa's family, when a drunk driver hit the side of our vehicle. The impact wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been a tractor trailer beside us when Lissa's Dad swerved to avoid the hit.<p>

The initial impact killed everyone but Lissa.

Lissa had always been different from everyone else. She almost never got mad, and always had a calm demeanor to her. She was just plain charismatic, but when the crash had killed us, she must have freaked out and called on something she didn't know she had- medium powers. Thus the reason I'm alive. She healed me, and brought me back from the world of the dead. When the police and ambulance arrived on scene, Lissa had already passed out from exhaustion. I was still on the shore of the lake lying beside Lissa confused as hell as to what just happened.

When we arrived back at St. Vlad's from the hospital, Lissa was heartbroken. She had lost everyone she loved, save me. Despite the matron's protests, I stayed in her dorm with her for a couple months until she was able to sleep peacefully at night without waking up from nightmares.

We spent the next year healing emotionally from this trauma while navigating the waters of what we could only call a bond between the two of us, and eventually it became easier. We could speak their names without bursting into tears, and could actually step back and think that they had all went to a better place. Well Lissa mainly. I chose to not think about religion much because after all the tragedies in my life, I couldn't say that I believed in miracles. I only believed in what I could do for myself. We only get one chance at life, well two for me but that's beside the point, and I wanted to do things on my own terms.  
>I made my own rules, and followed them with a passion.<p>

So you could picture how I reacted when Dimitri came to the academy my Junior year. It wasn't pretty.

**Sorry for skipping time so quickly, but I honestly could not think of enough stuff to fill 11 years worth of Rose's life. So I made this chapter kind of fast forward through time. As for confusion on the murder, it's a secret for the time being. It's kind of like a very stretched out cliffhanger. And no, unfortunately, she didn't kill Tasha (curse if you like) but Tasha was part of the story there.**

**R&R**

**RosemarieMazur**


	4. 15 Years Old: The Reunion

~2 Years Ago~  
>*Age 15*<br>-Location, St. Vladimir's Academy-

"Hey Rose did you hear about the new guy? He's Russian and all the girls are making him sound like a God."

Lissa was dating Christian, but it still didn't mean she didn't completely block out hot guy news.

"No, I haven't." I felt a pang in my chest every time I thought of Russia.

I had been born in Turkey, but I had lived in Russia for my childhood. Well, the first part of it anyway. It was my home. It was the place I made and lost my first best friend. It was the place my mother had abandoned me, by staying behind and not coming with us. It was last place I knew nothing of true heart ache.

"Come on, maybe he's in the cafeteria!" I was more focused on the aspect of food being there.

We walked around the campus after confirming he wasn't there and after I had grabbed a fair amount of doughnuts. We weren't exactly trying to find him, but if we happened to run into him it would be nice. It didn't take long until we found him. I couldn't see his face because of all the ogling girls surrounding him, but I could tell a couple of things. One, he looked like he was about 6' 7", and was very muscular. Two, he was graceful, so I knew he was a fighter.

St. Vladimir's is a regular boarding school, but it offers combat training on the side, kind of like ROTC, but not military style. I knew he would be in my combat classes after school so I took Lissa and finished our lunch in my dorm. I'll admit, I was curious to find out who this guy was. Not many people transfer into this school, so when a new guy that fights, is very hot, and foreign transfers here, people are bound to be curious. Especially me.

My classes passed quickly, mainly due to the fact that I didn't pay a bit of attention to any of them. But when my combat classes came, I was more alert than the presidents' bodyguards. I changed into a tight fitting red tank top and black yoga pants. I figured out pretty soon that when playing a contact sport, or fighting, wear something that's gonna cover your ass so that you don't get groped like a whore. Ew. I walked out with my hair still down, waiting to put it up after everyone had arrived. I absolutely loved my hair and try to keep it down as much as possible. A couple minutes later, the Russian walked out of the guy's locker room. My eyes did not deceive me earlier. He was indeed hot, with Godly good looks. I returned to tying my shoes to avoid looking like a freak staring at someone. And I couldn't say I was looking at anyone else, because it was just me and him in the gym. I peeked up at him from under my hair with my head still down and saw him look around, spot me, and then come my way.

Now the normal girl would start freaking out in this situation, but I was raised to never be intimidated. Ever. Plus I was known to date and break hearts as quick as the news could get out.

"Excuse me, but where is everyone else?" His accent made me want to melt, but it also put me on edge. Something registered in my brain that this voice was familiar. I looked at and straightened my back.

"Not here. Only a few of us actually practice, but I'm the only one who comes every day. The rest come on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"Interesting. Do you mind if I stay?" Hmmm a gentleman.

"No, of course not, stay." I could feel that the connection my brain wanted to make was within millimeters of touching, but I just couldn't grasp it. Oh well. It'll come to me eventually. We stretched together without talking until I headed outside to run my laps.

"Where are you going?" Something in me smiled that I already had an effect on this man, but I couldn't show that to him now could I?

"Outside to run. Why?"

"No reason, mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all."

We ran in silence, completing a total of 20 laps- 9 miles.

"Wow. Your hardcore aren't you?" I grinned and chugged the rest of my water.

"No point in running if it's not going to make a difference now is there?"

He chuckled. That laugh. I knew that laugh. I heard that laugh a lot when I was 3. Oh my god. I'm so stupid.

"Do you want to spar?" He still hadn't figured out who I am, the bastard. I plastered a fake grin across my face.

"Sure but could you take it easy, my arms a little sore from yesterday." That was a bull shit lie but I wanted to test him.

We pulled out the mats and crouched down into our fighting stance. He still had the same stance, easy. I faked a weak punch to his left and then tried for his right. I needed to look weak for this to work. He easily blocked me and then threw a light punch to my right shoulder. I blocked it partially but still let it clip me.

We continued this wuss fight for quite some time until he started to look bored: my perfect chance.  
>I struck out with my left fist as hard as I could and hit his ribs. He looked shocked by the sudden impact, and I took that hesitation to my advantage. I dealt out a couple blows to various places and then delivered a nasty round house kick to his ribs. He went down on the mats, and I followed. It was time for me to confront him and get some answers. I pinned his arms with my knees and punched him in the face. It wasn't hard enough to leave a mark, but it was enough to make a point.<p>

"What was that for?" He asked. He still hadn't figured it out.

"You poor bastard, you still don't know who I am." Another punch.

"I just met you, how am I supposed to know you?" I laughed. I outright laughed.

"I'll write you every week, and call you every day! I promise! Does that sound familiar?" Every tear I had shed when he broke all contact was now coming back in the form of anger.

"What are you talking about? I've never done that!" That was problem. He didn't, and he lied.

"Exactly my point. You lied to me Dimitri."

"How do you know my name...?" He trailed off as realization dawned on him.

"Rose?" I punched him again, harder this time.

"Oh look, the lying bastard remembers my name!" Another punch.

"Rose, I can explain." Another punch.

"Go ahead." I had my fist poised ready to strike at any moment. He looked at loss for words and then looked down.

"I'm sorry." This punch caused his face to fly sideways.

"And I'm pissed." I got off of him and left him lying on the mat. I hadn't done enough damage to break anything, but it would leave a nasty bruise, my bad, bruises.

I walked straight to Lissa's dorm and opened the door. She had been sitting at her desk doing homework when I walked in.

"Rose, you're crying! What happened?" I reached up and touched my cheek. Huh, I was crying.

"It's him." She immediately knew who I was talking about. We're just that close. A dark look crossed her face.

"What did he do Rose."

"More like what did I do to him. I beat the shit out of him."

"Oh Rose."

"Can I sleep here?"

"Yeah."

Long story short, I got hammered that night. Lissa had a buzz, but she was too much of a good kid to actually get drunk. I just wanted to forget. I wanted to forget him. But another part of me yearned to go talk to him, to go back to my dorm and dig out the box that I hadn't touched for 6 years. But the Mazur part wanted to go torch his room and never look back.

My carefully constructed world was crashing down just because of him. The game was changing and I needed a new plan, a new play. Too bad I passed out shit faced before I could think of one.

**Dimitri's back and Rose is pissed! Let the games begin…**

**RosemarieMazur**


	5. 15 Years Old: Shiny Things

~ 2 Years Ago ~  
>*Age 15*<br>-Location: St. Vladimir's Academy-

After I had woken up in Lissa's dorm room with probably the worst hangover I had even had, and stumbled back to my room, I stared at my closet door trying to fight the urge to get that damn box out. Eventually I just took an aspirin and went back to sleep.

For the rest of the week I went to all my classes with a blind eye, mainly because Dimitri was in all of them except two. It usually worked until my fighting classes, when I was forced to communicate with him. In our class we were always partnered up with someone better than ourselves, so we can improve our skills and continue to improve. For me, I had always fought my friends Eddie and Mason because they were the only fighters that could even come close to beating me. They never did, but I still got in my daily fight, but then Dimitri had to show up and change everything.

"Hathaway! You're fighting Belikov from now on. He kicked Ashford and Castile's butts!" Alto yelled.

"Go fuck your vacuum cleaner ass hole." I mumbled under my breath.

"I hope that you weren't talking to me." Dimitri walked up behind me stretching his arms and cracking his knuckles.

"Maybe I was talking to both of you, but since you don't like talking it'll remain a mystery to you." I could tell that that comment hurt him, but he brushed it off and narrowed his eyes. Something deep in me shied away from intentionally hurting Dimitri, but the rest of me was all in and ready to throw out quips and snarky remarks like nobody's business.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. Please let me explain myself." I crossed my arms and shifted my weight onto my other foot.

"You could have explained yourself before you cut off all contact with me."

"Rose, I didn't want-" He was cut off by Stan yelling.

"Hathaway, Belikov! Start fighting before I throw both of you in detention!"

"Ass hole..." Dimitri and I both muttered at the same time. I pulled my hair up and got into a fighting stance. Dimitri followed suit and I couldn't help but notice how, how, hot he looked. No not hot, godly. Stop it Rose! He's an ass hole and a dick and he doesn't even deserve to be your thoughts! I stayed perfectly still in my stance and watched intently as Dimitri readied himself. We stared at each other not moving until Dimitri faked a punch to my left shoulder but instead went for my stomach. A stomach hit was a typical first move to try and disarm your opponent's stance, but I was used to it. It was Mason's signature move. I easily blocked his attack and threw a high punch to his jaw. It connected and defiantly caught him off guard. I continued to follow through with a round-house kick to his hip and a low swoop to his legs. The moment he hit the ground I was down on him dealing out a series of punches.

He finally seemed to realize that I wasn't going to go easy on him, no matter how hard he tried to just block everything, and started to go on offensive mode. He dealt out a punch to my left shoulder again, catching me off guard and knocking me off of him. I immediately sprang up off the floor swinging, not waiting to give him a chance to recover. He blocked all of my punches, effectively keeping me from landing anymore hits on him.

"Rose, I really am sorry. Please forgive me."

"Never." I hissed out, still trying to land a punch on him. I eventually gave up and just drop-kicked him. It caught Dimitri off guard and caused him to stumble. A hurt so deep crossed his eyes, but then disappeared as fast as it had been there.

"I guess, the only way to convince you to listen to me, is to beat you." With lightening fast speed he swooped my legs out from underneath me and pinned me on the mat, just as I had the first night he appeared at St. Vladimir's.

"I win." His smug smile pissed me off so much, that I did the only move that I never used because Dimitri had been the one to teach it to me when we were littler. With an almost animal growl, I pushed my lower body off the floor and flipped Dimitri off me and over my head. I then proceeded to do a backwards somersault and landed right back on top of him.

"Think again you bastard." Stan smacked the mat and declared Dimitri 'dead'. I got off of him and went back to my dorm. It was the last class of the day anyway. I could feel Lissa worrying about me through the bond, so I texted her and told her I needed to be left alone, and that I was fine.

_**"You're not fine if you're secluding yourself from everyone, but I'll let you have your way. Just this once."**_

I grinned at her thoughts and set my bag down on my desk, knocking papers everywhere. As I was picking them up, I realized that a silver envelope had been slipped under my door. I must have been listening to Lissa when I passed through the door way. I finished picking up the rest of my papers and sat down on my bed to read the letter.

_Dear Roza, _

_When I learned that I had a chance to move to the United States, I wanted to decline at first. My home in Russia held so many memories from our childhood and I wanted to hold on to all I had left of you. I know that you are probably angry with me because I stopped writing, and cut off all contact with you, but it was necessary. As you probably know now, our fathers were 'partners', until someone in both of their 'businesses' were killed. Immediately, they blamed each other and became enemies. After a war broke out between them, I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone outside of our home. My father cut off any means of communication that I could use. I guess I should have contacted you again when Mom took me and my sisters from there, but I didn't know if you were still in the same place you were before. But then again, I should have at least tried to find you again. Maybe I was just scared that you would hate me. Well, then again, I think I'm a little too late on that one. I knew you wouldn't listen if I tried to tell you all of this, but I knew that you couldn't resist a letter in a shiny envelope. I really do miss you Roza, despite the fact that you hate me. Whether we become friends again or not is up to you, but at least I tried this time, instead of running away like a coward again. Please, give me a second chance at being your friend._

_-Dimitri_

At first, I was angry that Dimitri would insinuate that I was stupid enough to read a letter just because it was in a shiny envelope, but then smiled because he was right. Then, I felt remorse. I had been such an ass, and hadn't even let him explain what had happened. It was true, our fathers have hated each other since a member of their 'mafia', as I like to call it, had been killed.

"Oh Dimitri, I am so, so, sorry. I've been such a bitch to you, and it wasn't even your fault..." Tears were running down my face before I could even concentrate on stopping them.

"It's okay, it's my fault anyway. I should have tried to contact you sooner." My head shot up as I heard his voice in my doorway. I didn't even hear the door open.

"I- I, uh, I don't really…" He sat beside me on my bed and wrapped his large arms around my tiny frame.

"It's okay now. I promise, every things okay now."

"Oh Dimitri! I've missed you so much!" I sobbed. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head into his chest, bawling my eyes out like a baby.

An embarrassing 15 minutes later, I had finally calmed down enough to speak like a human being.

"I, um, sorry about, you know, breaking down like a weakling, and ruining your shirt." I blushed and fiddled with my hands. I looked up at Dimitri when he didn't say anything. His eyes were sparkling, and he was smiling. He brushed the hair that was hanging in my face behind my ear and tilted my chin up.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I was me who should be sorry." My usual 'Rose Bravado' took over and I punched him in the arm.

"You explained yourself, and it's not your fault."

We continued to talk for hours after our little 'discovery'. He told me about all of the things he did after he lost contact with me, including the part about dating Tasha. He had apparently started dating her when they were 12, but broke up with her when they were 14. I asked him why, and the answer I got made my heart swell.

"Well, at first everything seemed perfect. We went on little dates to ice cream shops, watched movies together and all of that mushy stuff. Then I started to realize that I was comparing her to you all the time. Like when she laughed, my mind said, 'her laugh sounds weird' but in reality, I wanted to hear your laugh."

"That is so sappy. But, it's very cute too." Dimitri laughed at my comment.

"After awhile, it got harder to talk to her openly. And all I would talk about was you, and things you used to do when we were kids. This pissed her off really bad, and she more or less told me that I wasn't allowed to think about any other girl but her. I thought that she was just freaking out that she would lose me at the time, but then I came to realize a couple of months later, that she was just plain crazy. She would threaten every girl that looked at me, and when I was partnered with any other girl besides her in combat class, she would go berserk and try to kill the other girl. Like literally kill them. As soon as I realized this, I broke it off with her."

"Wow Dimitri. You're a loser magnet too!" I went into detail about how much I hated Tasha when we were younger, just because she seemed like she thought she was better than everyone else. This of course made him laugh. Then I told him about dating Jessie, thus the loser magnet comments.

"God Rose, I've missed talking to you so much."

"Just talking to me? You didn't wanna get some eye candy from any of this?" I gestured to my toned and curvy body.

"Okay, I give up. I just came to stare at your sexy body, you got me." He held up his hands in mock defeat. My cheeks got red as I registered that he had called me sexy.

"You think I'm sexy?" It was innocent question in itself, but I wanted to know.

"Roza, you've always been the center of my attention. You're sexy from your body, to your mind, and defiantly to your attitude." As he said this, he moved closer to my face, our lips inches apart. He was about to kiss me when my door flew open.

"Oh Rose thank god your okay! I texted you like, a billion times, and you wouldn't answer me through the bond, so I came up here to check you and I- OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!" Liss looked down at the ground as her cheeks flushed bright red. Dimitri and I guiltily jumped apart and smoothed out our disheveled clothes. In the next few moments, Eddie, Mason, Christian, and Mia walked through my door. We all just kind of stood there, looking at each other with wide eyes. They saw my messed up hair, Dimitri's rumpled shirt, and a blushing Lissa.

Mia spoke up. "So did we just walk in on you two getting funky, or is this just a really awkward moment?"

**Please review and tell me any ideas you have for the story, or if you have any questions.**

**RosemarieMazur**


	6. 15 Years Old: Trust and Bonds

~Age 15~  
>-Location: Rose's Dorm Room at St. Vladimir's Academy-<p>

"You wanna talk about embarrassing, try getting pulled into your best friends head while she's getting it on with her boyfriend. Ahem, Lissa, Sparky."

Lissa and Christian's faces turned blood red, and everyone burst out laughing. I felt the pressure of their initial seriousness wear off and we all talked for awhile. I told Mia and Eddie who Dimitri was and what all had happened between us when we were little. At first, Eddie wanted to kill Dimitri for what he had done to me, but then I quickly explained our father's 'jobs'. Eddie was like the big brother I never had, and he treated me that way. He was always defending me and threatening to beat up guys when I went out on dates with them. When I had dated Mason a couple of years ago, Eddie had been thrilled because he was best friends with him. Things between me and Mason hadn't worked out in the long run, but we remained good friends. After I had explained everything, and they had all gotten in their share of teasing, they left.

_**Rose, after he leaves call me so I can come over and talk to you about... some things... Okay?**_

I grabbed my phone and texted back, since I couldn't respond through the bond.

_**Okay**_

"Your friends are... eccentric aren't they?"

"Heh, yeah; they're not exactly normal, but I think that they reflect me in some weird way. It helps us understand each other better and defiantly makes class interesting when we decide to start shooting hornets at each other." **(Hornets are little pieces of paper folded up into a tiny square, and then shot at people with a rubber band. They hurt quite a bit when done right)**

"Why did I somehow know that you were going to say something along the lines of that?"

"Because you're my best friend and you are a know-it-all book nerd. You still read those cowboy books?"

"Yes, the know-it-all book nerd still reads the _western_ books." I laughed and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"I've missed this. I've missed you. I mean, I can still talk to Lissa about everything and we have the bond and all, but it's just not the same. I mean, we more or less grew up together and you did help me with some of my best pranks when I was little. You know me better than anyone else." Dimitri sighed and wrapped his arms around me again. We were sitting with our legs propped up on my bed and our backs against the headboard.

"I'm sorry for not coming back to you sooner Roza." I relaxed into his arms and said,

"It's not your fault, but if it'll make you shut the hell up, I forgive you." I felt his chest rumble as he laughed. We sat there for a couple of minutes, just relishing our time together, until Dimitri asked me a touchy question.

"What did you mean earlier about a bond with Lissa?" My ice ran cold as I realized I had slipped and told him.

"Um, it's kind of a long story and I don't really...Fine, I'll tell you. Just stop looking at me like that." Dimitri had been looking at me with hurt-filled eyes- he thought I didn't trust him anymore. Well, I didn't trust him 100%, but he was still up there.

"Last year Liss and I had been coming home from a short vacation with her family. A good song had came on the radio and Lissa and I were asking her father and mother to leave it on the song. Her brother, Andre, was arguing us, saying the song was filth. Her Mom had been looking back at us, jokingly telling us to settle down and correcting Lissa's grammar, when the car swerved. A drunk driver had almost hit us, and we all would have been okay, but a tractor trailer had been in the lane beside us when Lissa's Dad swerved, and we hit it at 80mph. The car was thrown around the road, and the impact and rolling of the car had killed all of us but Lissa." I paused to look at Dimitri and see his reaction. His eyes were wide and he gripped me tighter.

"Wait, you said all of you but Lissa were killed. Weren't you in the car?" I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I was but I was dead. Liss said just my arm was hanging out the shattered window."

"Wait, was dead? Did the paramedics bring you back?"

"Nope. Liss did."

"So, she did CPR?"

"Nope. She healed me."

"What?" I smiled and punched Dmitri's arm lightly, trying to break a slowly building tension.

"Will you shut up for a sec and let me explain? The paramedics didn't get there until a half hour after the crash. Lissa had managed to get free of the car and drag herself to me. The car had three rows of seats, with me and Andre in the middle and Lissa in the very back. When she saw everyone was dead she panicked. So, she called on something she didn't even know she had. She's a sort of medium Dimitri, kind of like your Grandma, but she can heal things, and bring them back from the dead. I had been dead for over 5 minutes, and yet somehow, she brought me back. When I woke up, I felt like death, no pun intended, and saw Lissa passed out beside me. Then the paramedics arrived and took Liss and me to the hospital. While Lissa was passed out from exhaustion, she only had a slight concussion, scratches, and bruises. I had a couple broken ribs, deep cuts from the glass that had shattered beside me, mainly on my throat and face, and some internal bleeding. None of it was life threatening, when it should have been. The doctors were baffled. They told me that my ribs should have punctured major organs the way they were broke, and that my bones should have been shattered. The cuts on my throat should have severed my vocal cords and breathing tube. They said that I was a living proof of a miracle."

"So, when Lissa healed you, it created a bond between you two, almost like she gave you a piece of her soul. That's amazing."

"I couldn't believe it myself when we found out about her powers. At first I just thought it was all a load of shit, but then remembered your Grandmother and some of the freaky stuff she could do. Like every time I would take a cookie, she would know it. Even that one time she wasn't even in the country, she knew I took the damn cookie!" Dimitri laughed and hugged me tighter.

"I really owe a lot to Lissa. She kept you in this world so that I could have the chance to explain myself, and not have you hate me forever. I'm so sorry I wasn't there during that time. You sounded like you were really close to her parents." I nodded.

"They were. They felt like a third family to me. They took me on all their vacations with them, threw me surprise birthday parties, even bailed me out of jail once. They were there for me when my own parents abandoned me in this hell hole." I gestured around the dorm room.

"They bailed you out of jail? What did you do?"

"I, uh, kind of beat the shit out of a mall cop when he tried to 'check' me for anything stolen when we shopping. He just wanted to check my ass out with his hands." I crossed my arms and pouted. Dimitri laughed again and that made me smile. I had always loved Dimitri's laugh. Well, a couple of hours ago I hated it, but that's beside the point.

"Don't take this wrong, but when did you stop hoping and start hating me?" I felt guilty when he asked me this.

"Every year on my birthday after I lost contact with you, I would wish that you would come back to me. On my 10th birthday, I stopped wishing to see you again. Instead, I wished to forget you. I took everything that reminded me of you, and put it in a box in the back of my closet. Oh wait, hold on a sec."

I hopped of my bed and opened the door to my closet. After rummaging through a crap load of shoes, they were some of Lissa's too as she had run out of room for hers at her dorm, until I spotted the red and black wooden box. I plopped back down beside Dimitri and opened the lid. Inside were every letter Dimitri had sent me, a copy of every e-mail printed out, and my old diary- a lot of the entry's were about Dimitri and me so I figured it needed to be put in the box too.

"Wow, you really kept everything. I thought that you would have lit it all on fire and danced on the ashes." I put my hands over my heart and feigned being hurt.

"Do you really think I'm that cold? Well, actually, I wanted to burn it all, but Liss told me to keep them in a box. I guess she was right. I am glad I kept these."

"I guess Lissa is just an angel all around then, huh?"

"Yup." We sat there in content silence, reading over the letters and e-mails for a couple hours, and occasionally laughing at one. A couple of hours later, Lissa texted me.

"_**Hey, is the Russian still there?"**_

_**"Yes. Why? Are you okay? Do you need anything?"**_

_**"No Rose, I'm fine but thanks for asking. I was just checking in to make sure you hadn't killed him or anything."**_

_**"I have more control than to do that."**_

_**"Sure you do..."**_

_**"Hey Liss."**_

_**"What?"**_

_**"I told him about the bond, and what happened on the road."**_

_**"... What did he say?"**_

_**"He said he owes you a lot, because you kept me alive so that he could tell me he was sorry."**_

_**"Awwwww! That's so sweet! Tell him I said thanks, and not to knock you up or I'll kill him. K?"**_

_**"I'll tell him that first part, but not the second one."**_

_**"Ha-ha, night Rose."**_

_**"Night Liss."**_

"Hey Dimitri, Liss says Awwwww! That's so sweet! Tell him I said thanks." He chuckled.

After awhile, I started to get sleepy. It was a good thing that it was Friday night, because it was three in the morning when I yawned and looked at the clock. Wordlessly, Dimitri put all the letters back in the box and set it on the floor. He picked me up, pulled back my covers, and put me underneath of them. He was about to start collecting his things to leave when I grabbed his arm.

"Please don't leave. Stay? I just got you back and I'm not gonna share you with your new idiotic dorm mates Eddie and Mason." Dimitri smiled and slid in beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead.

"I've missed so many years with you. I'm not about to give you up either. I'll never let you think that I've abandoned you ever again." I sighed in contentment and drifted off into a deep sleep.

"I love you so much Roza."

That night I dreamed of us. Dimitri proposing to me, us getting married, having kids together. They were all great. I just hoped that I didn't talk in my sleep again...

**There was lots of foreshadowing in this chapter, and a little insight to Rose and Lissa's bond.**

**Also, some of you might think it's a bit weird that Rose opens up to Dimitri so easily, and that he accepts what she says without a doubt. I intentionally wrote it like this because I wanted to show how deep of a connection they have with each other, despite being separated for so and so years.**

**As for Abe he is NOT a bad guy in this story.**

**As for Dimitri's Dad, yes, he still an abusive ass hole, and yes, I will probably kill him sometime later in the story.****  
><strong>**Or is it he who was murdered...?****  
><strong>**Nah it's not.****  
><strong>**I will seriously kill him though.****  
><strong>  
><strong>Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter!<strong>

**RosemarieMazur**


	7. 15 Years Old: Happy Ending, For Now

**This will be the last chapter I do with them being 15, then I'll move onto them being 16.**

~15 Years Old~  
>-Location: St. Vladimir's Academy-<p>

When I woke up the next morning, I realized that I had my head resting on Dimitri's chest, his arms were around me, holding onto me like I was his life line, with him softly snoring. Now normally, I would have been thrilled to wake up this way, but there was one other thing that couldn't be ignored. I had to pee, very badly. Carefully, I tried to shift Dimitri's arms off of me, but his sleepy self wouldn't have any of that. He brought his arms tighter around me and said in his sleep,

"I'm not letting you go ever again."

I smiled and continued my struggle. After 15 minutes of struggling, I was still stuck, and I still had to pee, really, really bad now. I had to switch tactics. I gently stroked Dimitri's face and purred,

"Comrade, wake up." He twitched slightly, but still didn't move. At least I knew I had him slightly awake. I tried again.

"Comrade, wake up. If you don't get up now, we won't have time for a quickie..."

About half a second later, he opened his eyes and looked over at me. I took this chance at his distraction and shot up out of bed and to the bathroom. I heard Dimitri's laughter as I washed my hands. I guess he knew why I wanted up so bad now. When I walked out, he was still lounged in my bed looking at a photograph of Liss and I at the beach 2 years ago. She was wearing a white sundress with sunglasses on, and I was in my red bikini, holding a surf board. She had just been walking along the edge of the water with Christian, while I had been out owning the local boys at surfing. My hair was wavy from the water and actually looked pretty hot from the sea salt. That stuff does amazing stuff for your hair.

"Even at 13 years old, you already had guys following you around like lost puppies. Huh?" I blushed and smacked him.

"You're one of the ones who still follows me to this day. Maybe someday soon, we can go out to the beach and you can try to kick my butt at surfing." He grinned pulled me down on the bed.

"You bet your hot ass that I will."

"Aw, now that was sweet. He still follows me."

~Present~  
>-Location: Rose's Room at Abe's House-<p>

The rest of that year continued on with a positive look. It was probably one of my best. Dimitri and I grew closer than ever, and I think that that's when we started to fall in love. Like, hardcore in love. We hadn't started dating that year, but we had defiantly stolen a couple of kisses from each other. Everything seemed perfect, until Tasha transferred to St. Vladimir's Academy—on my 16th birthday too. She's such a bitch.

**Okay, this chapter was incredibly short, but it was just to wrap up when their 15 years old. Now we get to go to the time when Tasha comes and ruins everything. **

**RosemarieMazur**


	8. 16 Years Old: May 3rd

~ 2 Years Ago ~  
>*Age 15*<br>-Location: St. Vladimir's Academy-

After I had woken up in Lissa's dorm room with probably the worst hangover I had even had, and stumbled back to my room, I stared at my closet door trying to fight the urge to get that damn box out. Eventually I just took an aspirin and went back to sleep.

For the rest of the week I went to all my classes with a blind eye, mainly because Dimitri was in all of them except two. It usually worked until my fighting classes, when I was forced to communicate with him. In our class we were always partnered up with someone better than ourselves, so we can improve our skills and continue to improve. For me, I had always fought my friends Eddie and Mason because they were the only fighters that could even come close to beating me. They never did, but I still got in my daily fight, but then Dimitri had to show up and change everything.

"Hathaway! You're fighting Belikov from now on. He kicked Ashford and Castile's butts!" Alto yelled.

"Go fuck your vacuum cleaner ass hole." I mumbled under my breath.

"I hope that you weren't talking to me." Dimitri walked up behind me stretching his arms and cracking his knuckles.

"Maybe I was talking to both of you, but since you don't like talking it'll remain a mystery to you." I could tell that that comment hurt him, but he brushed it off and narrowed his eyes. Something deep in me shied away from intentionally hurting Dimitri, but the rest of me was all in and ready to throw out quips and snarky remarks like nobody's business.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. Please let me explain myself." I crossed my arms and shifted my weight onto my other foot.

"You could have explained yourself before you cut off all contact with me."

"Rose, I didn't want-" He was cut off by Stan yelling.

"Hathaway, Belikov! Start fighting before I throw both of you in detention!"

"Ass hole..." Dimitri and I both muttered at the same time. I pulled my hair up and got into a fighting stance. Dimitri followed suit and I couldn't help but notice how, how, hot he looked. No not hot, godly. Stop it Rose! He's an ass hole and a dick and he doesn't even deserve to be your thoughts! I stayed perfectly still in my stance and watched intently as Dimitri readied himself. We stared at each other not moving until Dimitri faked a punch to my left shoulder but instead went for my stomach. A stomach hit was a typical first move to try and disarm your opponent's stance, but I was used to it. It was Mason's signature move. I easily blocked his attack and threw a high punch to his jaw. It connected and defiantly caught him off guard. I continued to follow through with a round-house kick to his hip and a low swoop to his legs. The moment he hit the ground I was down on him dealing out a series of punches.

He finally seemed to realize that I wasn't going to go easy on him, no matter how hard he tried to just block everything, and started to go on offensive mode. He dealt out a punch to my left shoulder again, catching me off guard and knocking me off of him. I immediately sprang up off the floor swinging, not waiting to give him a chance to recover. He blocked all of my punches, effectively keeping me from landing anymore hits on him.

"Rose, I really am sorry. Please forgive me."

"Never." I hissed out, still trying to land a punch on him. I eventually gave up and just drop-kicked him. It caught Dimitri off guard and caused him to stumble. A hurt so deep crossed his eyes, but then disappeared as fast as it had been there.

"I guess, the only way to convince you to listen to me, is to beat you." With lightening fast speed he swooped my legs out from underneath me and pinned me on the mat, just as I had the first night he appeared at St. Vladimir's.

"I win." His smug smile pissed me off so much, that I did the only move that I never used because Dimitri had been the one to teach it to me when we were littler. With an almost animal growl, I pushed my lower body off the floor and flipped Dimitri off me and over my head. I then proceeded to do a backwards somersault and landed right back on top of him.

"Think again you bastard." Stan smacked the mat and declared Dimitri 'dead'. I got off of him and went back to my dorm. It was the last class of the day anyway. I could feel Lissa worrying about me through the bond, so I texted her and told her I needed to be left alone, and that I was fine.

_**"You're not fine if you're secluding yourself from everyone, but I'll let you have your way. Just this once."**_

I grinned at her thoughts and set my bag down on my desk, knocking papers everywhere. As I was picking them up, I realized that a silver envelope had been slipped under my door. I must have been listening to Lissa when I passed through the door way. I finished picking up the rest of my papers and sat down on my bed to read the letter.

_Dear Roza, _

_When I learned that I had a chance to move to the United States, I wanted to decline at first. My home in Russia held so many memories from our childhood and I wanted to hold on to all I had left of you. I know that you are probably angry with me because I stopped writing, and cut off all contact with you, but it was necessary. As you probably know now, our fathers were 'partners', until someone in both of their 'businesses' were killed. Immediately, they blamed each other and became enemies. After a war broke out between them, I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone outside of our home. My father cut off any means of communication that I could use. I guess I should have contacted you again when Mom took me and my sisters from there, but I didn't know if you were still in the same place you were before. But then again, I should have at least tried to find you again. Maybe I was just scared that you would hate me. Well, then again, I think I'm a little too late on that one. I knew you wouldn't listen if I tried to tell you all of this, but I knew that you couldn't resist a letter in a shiny envelope. I really do miss you Roza, despite the fact that you hate me. Whether we become friends again or not is up to you, but at least I tried this time, instead of running away like a coward again. Please, give me a second chance at being your friend._

_-Dimitri_

At first, I was angry that Dimitri would insinuate that I was stupid enough to read a letter just because it was in a shiny envelope, but then smiled because he was right. Then, I felt remorse. I had been such an ass, and hadn't even let him explain what had happened. It was true, our fathers have hated each other since a member of their 'mafia', as I like to call it, had been killed.

"Oh Dimitri, I am so, so, sorry. I've been such a bitch to you, and it wasn't even your fault..." Tears were running down my face before I could even concentrate on stopping them.

"It's okay, it's my fault anyway. I should have tried to contact you sooner." My head shot up as I heard his voice in my doorway. I didn't even hear the door open.

"I- I, uh, I don't really…" He sat beside me on my bed and wrapped his large arms around my tiny frame.

"It's okay now. I promise, every things okay now."

"Oh Dimitri! I've missed you so much!" I sobbed. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head into his chest, bawling my eyes out like a baby.

An embarrassing 15 minutes later, I had finally calmed down enough to speak like a human being.

"I, um, sorry about, you know, breaking down like a weakling, and ruining your shirt." I blushed and fiddled with my hands. I looked up at Dimitri when he didn't say anything. His eyes were sparkling, and he was smiling. He brushed the hair that was hanging in my face behind my ear and tilted my chin up.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I was me who should be sorry." My usual 'Rose Bravado' took over and I punched him in the arm.

"You explained yourself, and it's not your fault."

We continued to talk for hours after our little 'discovery'. He told me about all of the things he did after he lost contact with me, including the part about dating Tasha. He had apparently started dating her when they were 12, but broke up with her when they were 14. I asked him why, and the answer I got made my heart swell.

"Well, at first everything seemed perfect. We went on little dates to ice cream shops, watched movies together and all of that mushy stuff. Then I started to realize that I was comparing her to you all the time. Like when she laughed, my mind said, 'her laugh sounds weird' but in reality, I wanted to hear your laugh."

"That is so sappy. But, it's very cute too." Dimitri laughed at my comment.

"After awhile, it got harder to talk to her openly. And all I would talk about was you, and things you used to do when we were kids. This pissed her off really bad, and she more or less told me that I wasn't allowed to think about any other girl but her. I thought that she was just freaking out that she would lose me at the time, but then I came to realize a couple of months later, that she was just plain crazy. She would threaten every girl that looked at me, and when I was partnered with any other girl besides her in combat class, she would go berserk and try to kill the other girl. Like literally kill them. As soon as I realized this, I broke it off with her."

"Wow Dimitri. You're a loser magnet too!" I went into detail about how much I hated Tasha when we were younger, just because she seemed like she thought she was better than everyone else. This of course made him laugh. Then I told him about dating Jessie, thus the loser magnet comments.

"God Rose, I've missed talking to you so much."

"Just talking to me? You didn't wanna get some eye candy from any of this?" I gestured to my toned and curvy body.

"Okay, I give up. I just came to stare at your sexy body, you got me." He held up his hands in mock defeat. My cheeks got red as I registered that he had called me sexy.

"You think I'm sexy?" It was innocent question in itself, but I wanted to know.

"Roza, you've always been the center of my attention. You're sexy from your body, to your mind, and defiantly to your attitude." As he said this, he moved closer to my face, our lips inches apart. He was about to kiss me when my door flew open.

"Oh Rose thank god your okay! I texted you like, a billion times, and you wouldn't answer me through the bond, so I came up here to check you and I- OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!" Liss looked down at the ground as her cheeks flushed bright red. Dimitri and I guiltily jumped apart and smoothed out our disheveled clothes. In the next few moments, Eddie, Mason, Christian, and Mia walked through my door. We all just kind of stood there, looking at each other with wide eyes. They saw my messed up hair, Dimitri's rumpled shirt, and a blushing Lissa.

Mia spoke up. "So did we just walk in on you two getting funky, or is this just a really awkward moment?"

**Please review and tell me any ideas you have for the story, or if you have any questions.**

**RosemarieMazur**


	9. 16 Years Old: Your a What?

**NOTE: This chapter has been heavily edited. If you have previously read this story, chapters 8-11 have been edited for future plot purposes. Please go back and re-read.**

I'm downstairs in my basement, beating the living hell out of the punching bag situated in the training area of Abe's house. Thinking about how my life had become so messed up and about the people who have caused it made my blood start to boil, so I came down to try and burn off my anger. It's not working.

I kept at it until I noticed a couple of spots on the bag that were darker than the usual red. Without looking I knew that I had busted my hands up pretty bad. I guess I deserve it in some retrospect. Flexing my fingers, I found that they didn't hurt- they were just numb. So I kept going. I must have kept furiously attacking the bag until a hand grabbed my shoulder. I stopped, ready to murder whoever had stopped me from working off my fury.

"Rose, please calm yourself down. I know that you think you can take on the world by yourself, but you are still my baby girl. I want to help you, and that starts with mending your poor hands." Abe's voice was level, but I could hear the slight distress he had tried to hide. I fell to my knees and put my head down. I was still breathing heavy, despite not doing anything too strenuous.

"I don't what to do Abe. Everyone thinks I'm a murderer, I caught Dimitri kissing a totally crazy bitch, and I have no idea where my best friend is even with the bond we have." Angrily I wiped at the tears that had betrayed me. Abe sat down beside me and wrapped his arms around me. Automatically I put my head against his chest, relishing the feeling that I hadn't had since I was very little.

"Kiz, I know that we haven't been on the best of terms since we moved from Russia, but I never have stopped loving you. Not even for a second. I don't think you're a murderer, and I know that Dimitri wouldn't have been kissing the psychotic bitch with no reason. I have a hunch that Tasha forced herself on him, or has some sort of leverage over him. She was hoping you would catch it, just to break you down. Don't let her win Rose. Beat her like the Mazur I know you are."

**~17 Years Old, six months after the confrontation with Tasha~**  
><strong>-Location: Rose's Dorm Room-<strong>

"Christian, toss me one over here. Mine's empty!" I looked at the bottle in my hand, and couldn't help but think that a drink with the name Apple Bite should not taste as good as it did.

"Rose, that's your third drink. Are you sure you want another?" Dimitri, being the voice of reason, was holding my drink above my head so I couldn't reach it. I tried to jump up and grab it, but that's kind of hard when you're sitting on your ass in a circle of drinking teenagers.

Now before you start shaking your head in a disapproving manner, we weren't drunk, or even buzzed for that matter. Occasionally when the whole gang had had a pretty rough week, we'll go to one of our dorm rooms, sit in a circle on the floor, and have a few drinks. Just the burning of the alcohol and the fact we were partaking in something illegal made a lot of things better. Plus Smirnoff Apple Bite is freaking amazing.

"I am not a lightweight comrade, so give me that!" I made another grab, but his long arms made it a bitch to reach. Dimitri looked to Lissa to see if I was telling the truth.

"Hey I've seen her drink five before and only get a slight buzz from it." She affirmed while shrugging her shoulders. Reluctantly he lowered my amazing drink back within reach. Excitedly I grabbed it and popped the cap off. The icy liquid burned my throat but had a very pleasant taste to it. It was perfection in liquid form. Christian was giving me a funny look when I tuned back into reality, probably from the euphoric look on my face after I took the first drink of my new bottle.

"So tell me Rose, which is better- the first drink of an Apple Bite, or sex?" I almost choked on my drink when Christian casually introduced the question.

"You snarky bastard, that's none of your business." I snapped back, taking a rather large swig of my drink. Everyone started laughing, except Eddie. Judging by the look on his face, he had an idea.

"Hey, why don't we turn this into a game of Truth or Dare? If you complete the dare or truth then you get to take a drink. If you fail to do it, then you have to do a tequila shot, without the tequila."

"So if someone chickens out, they eat salt and a lemon, right?" Lissa questioned. Eddie shook his head yes and grinned.

"So, since Rose is our resident champion, she gets to go first and..." Eddie paused for a second looking around our circle. "Lissa, you'll get to ask her." I crackled my knuckles and nodded at her.

"Alright Rose what will you pick, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"That was quick. Alright, I dare you to strip down to your underwear, put on a mask or something so no one will recognize you, and run around the building singing that song you wrote about Stan last year after he called you a reject of mannered society."

"Okay." I immediately threw off my shirt and jeans, leaving me in my sports bra and boyshorts. My bikini shows more than this did, so I wasn't shy about it. Next I went over to the closet in the corner of my room and got out the masquerade style mask I had acquired a few years back from a ball Lissa's parents had thrown.

"Alright you pansy's. This is how you play truth or dare." With that, I took off into the hallways.

_***Twenty Minutes Later***_

I shot into my room at full speed, and quickly shut the door without slamming it. After my little performance, all of the dorm matrons were after the "p'yanny debil". Dimitri told us all that it meant drunken moron in Russian, and of course laughter followed. After we had all settled back down, and I slipped my jeans back on and an orange tank top that was hanging haphazardly out of a drawer. We continued on with our game.

"Okay Fireball, your turn—truth or Dare?" I was gonna get Christian good for his earlier question.

"Truth."

"What was running through your mind when you and Lissa first had sex, and did you get top or bottom?" Everyone was dead silent for a couple moments, while Christians face drained of color, and then turned red. He stuttered for a minute until Mason called time. Seeming almost relieved, Christian grabbed for the salt shaker and the lemon, before he realized what he had to do. A minute later, we were all dying laughing at Christians face.

The game continued on, until eventually it got back to me. Unfortunately, Christian was asking me the question.

"Alright Rosie, truth or dare."

"Truth and I'll rip your tongue out if you call me Rosie again."

"So violent, anyway who was the first guy you ever slept with?"

Aw hell.

"Well, um there's a funny thing about that." Everyone had leaned forward, anticipating my answer.

"I'm kind of still..." I mumbled the rest so no one could hear.

"What Rose? I couldn't quite hear you?" Christian put his hand up next to his ear, playing up that he couldn't hear me.

"I've never slept with anyone you bastard!" I shouted, followed by me chugging the rest of my Apple Bite. I motioned for another, but no one moved.

"What? Did you all seriously think I've slept around? Just because I used to flirt a lot didn't mean I slept with those brain dead morons." Still, no one responded. I waited about a minute before Mason spoke up.

"No, we didn't think that, it's just, with how much Dimitri spends the night here we all figured that you two were very familiar with each other."

"Grow a pair and just say we all thought they went at it like rabbits every night he was here!" Mia spoke up, also chugging the last of her beer. My face was probably a scarlet red by this point.

"We are just friends and nothing more!" I motioned for Lissa to hand me another Apple Bite since my earlier request was ignored. As soon as I wrapped my fingers around the cap to twist it off, there was a hard bang against the door, almost like someone had fell against it.

"Christian, go see what that was." I went back to prying open my drink while Christian struggled up and mumbled about how he had to do everything. As soon as I got a good grip on the cap again, Dimitri swore. I flinched, twisting the cap off as well as slicing my fingers wide open. Cursing I set my bottle down and grabbed a towel from the bathroom. As soon as I stepped back out, I was met with grave looks. Even Mia, who usually never let anything bad show through, was looking like she wanted to cry.

"Hey, who died in here?" I nervously chuckled.

"Hopefully not you." Christian took a letter out of a motionless Dimitri's hands and handed it to me.

"This was outside the door when I opened it. No one was out there with it."

_**Dear Rose,**_

_**You may have caught me off my guard six months ago, but I can promise you that will not happen again. We have a score to settle, and I will win. I will kill you, and anyone else who gets in my way. I will take Dimitri as mine, as well as taking over your fathers company. I will end the last line of Mazur's once and for all.**_

_**Game on Rose, I hope your ready.**_

I went over to my desk, and set down the letter on top of the stack of papers I've never bothered to throw away. I sighed and flopped in my computer chair, putting my head in my hands.

"Rose, are you okay?" Mason's voice cut through the heavy silence in the room. Spinning around slowly I look every single one of my friends in the eye.

"I will be. Just make sure every single one of you watch your back until I get this problem fixed. I know the writer of this note will go after you all first."

**RosemarieMazur**


	10. 16 Years Old: Reinforcements

**Thank you all again for reading, and the reviews! I am very proud to say that the readers count on this story is very close to 300,00 views. Hopefully if this keeps up, my review count will increase as well, but I guess that depends on how much I update this story.**

**NOTE: This chapter had been severely edited for plot purposes. If you have previously read this story, please go back and read again. Major details and events HAVE BEEN ALTERED.**

~16 Years Old~  
>-Location: St. Vladimir's Training Facilities-<p>

Shortly after reading the disturbing letter and all my friends had excused themselves, I threw on my favorite black workout pants and a tank top. I needed to work out and sort my thoughts. Of course Dimitri accompanied me to the gym—he wasn't going to let me out of his sight after the threat from Tasha. The walk over to the gym was virtually silent, then again we were past curfew, but most of the teachers here knew that I was often in the gym no matter the time. The sky was dark and the woods were silent and to be honest, the piercing silence put me on edge. No crickets, frogs or even insects were making a noise. It was as if everything had paused their life, waiting for the tension to be cut. When we finally got to the large gym, I let out a sigh of relief that I hadn't realized I was holding in.

Surprisingly, Eddie and Mason were in the gym when we walked in.

"If we're gonna help you Rose, we need background information."

"So, this Tasha girl, who you've hated since you were just kids, is here in Montana after you." Mason spoke slowly, like he was trying to piece everything together. I nodded my head the best I could, since I had a 200 pound barbell above my head. I lowered it and pushed it back up, making my nineteenth rep.

"You know Rose, you're really strong. I mean, you can lift more weight than I even can, and you're the best hand to hand combat fighter at this school along with Dimitri. Why don't you just teach her a lesson and be done with it?" Eddie sounded genuinely curious. I grimaced at the weight of the bar and shoved it back in its holders. Sitting up I shook my head.

"It's a little more complicated than that. There's something about Dimitri and I that you all don't know." Dimitri gave me a look, silently asking if they could be trusted. I nodded and continued when Mason motioned for me to continue.

"Have you all wondered why you never see my parents, or hear me talk about them? One I haven't seen then since I was dropped off in this hell hole. Second, it's because my mother's in Russia and my Dad travels all over the states here in the U.S."

"Wait, you're from Russia too, but you don't have a Russian accent like Dimitri." Eddie questioned.

"I was born in Turkey so I have an American accent thanks to Janine, but I lived in Russia for my childhood until I was shipped here. That's how I knew Dimitri before he arrived here. We grew up together and were best friends. Our parent's were close, so Dimitri was at my house and vice-versa all the time. Our parents believed that we needed to be able to defend ourselves because of their professions, so we took combat classes together; especially since his mom was our instructor. Tasha was there too, but she never could beat me at fighting, and she was unhappy that Dimitri wanted to spend all his time with me and not her. That's one reason why she hates me. The second reason is because she is a psychotic bitch, and has created this delusion in her mind where Dimitri is all hers and will be hers forever. When she realized it was me with Dimitri the night of my birthday, she went crazy, threw down some threats, and ran off into the woods. Six months later we find the note outside my door." Eddie and Mason sat on their respective weight benches, processing the information I gave them. A look of confusion passed over Masons face, and I raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to say it.

"What profession are your parents in Rose?" I sighed and knew I had no choice but to tell them.

"My father is the Mob Boss of Turkey, with my mom under him, helping with the paperwork, book keeping, etc."

"My father is the Mob Boss of Russia. Our parents did have an alliance with each other, until someone started taking agents out and making it look like Rose's father, or my father in Rose's case, so our parents went into a war with each other and broke the alliance."

"What?!" Mason and Eddie both yelled at once, their expressions unbelieving. I nodded to confirm.

"We're supposed to take over the family business when we turn 18 or 21. It just depends on our parents. I know my Dad wants me to be married by the time I'm 21, but let's be serious- as if anyone could handle the full force Rose bravado 24/7." Mason and Eddie chuckled while Dimitri cracked a small smile. I could see something hidden in his expression, but I didn't dwell on it too long—like I needed anymore confusion in my life right now.

"Okay, enough family background stories. I came here to lift and work off my frustrations, not talk about them." Eddie and Mason nodded in agreement and resumed their lifting. I lay back down on the lifting bench under the bar bell and continued with my reps.

When I was about to finish the 3rd set of fifty, I heard a loud creaking noise. I had been hearing the noise since I started lifting, but didn't think anything about it. Most exercise equipment makes a noise of some sort, but this noise was not good. A moment later, the adjustment pin holding the bench up to the height I needed to reach the barbell snapped, and the whole bench shifted down half a foot. Usually this wouldn't have been a big deal, but my arms were a little tired, and when the bench shifted gravity hit the bar hard, and my arms gave out. Through some miracle I managed to use the momentum of the shifted bench to slide up before the bar could crush my lungs. I was still caught under the bar, but nothing had been hit hard enough to break that I could register at the moment.

"Rose!" Dimitri, Mason, and Eddie rushed over to me, getting of heavy bar off of me. As I shifted and put my hand to the floor to get up, I cried out and quickly dropped back down. I slid down onto the floor, my back resting against the broken bench. I had my arm tucked in tight against my stomach, trying to lessen the pain. All three of the boys were circled around me, worry circulating among them. Gingerly I took a peek at my injured arm. It was already turning black, and there was no way anyone couldn't see where the bones had been more or less shattered between my wrist and elbow. Without warning Dimitri took my uninjured arm and hauled me to my feet to inspect the damage. Grimacing at the sight before him, he turned to Eddie and Mason.

"Damn it... Just hold on Rose. We're gonna take you to the infirmary. Eddie, grab the pin that snapped. Mason, grab my phone off the bench. I need to make a call once we're there."

When Dimitri had gotten me to the infirmary, everything turned into a blur. I was just so tired and the pain running through my arm was turning everything into a foggy haze. I remember hearing Dimitri shouting for Dr. Olendski, her coming out and shouting orders for something, and then my arm being twisted in some very uncomfortable ways while something was beeping very loudly. Thinking back I realized they were the x-ray machines. After about two hours, they finally let me rest in a secluded room. I had dozed off for about an hour before waking. Dimitri, Eddie, and Mason were all sitting around my bed. Dimitri had his cell phone in hand, staring intently at the screen. He jumped when he noticed I was awake.

"How do you feel? The nurses gave you some pretty strong painkillers." He brushed the hair that had fallen in my face away, looking into my eyes to make sure I wasn't lying when I answered.

"It still hurts pretty badly, but I can think straight again at least." I shifted, feeling a mild pain shoot threw the right side of my body.

"Rose? How are you feeling?" Dr. Olendski walked in, carrying her clipboard. Her glasses were low on her nose and her white coat made her look very tall.

"I'm still hurting pretty bad but not near as much as I was." She nodded and scribbled something down on my file.

"That's good, but I'm afraid I have some good news and some bad news." Dimitri tightened his hold on my hand.

"Your x-ray shows that your arm is basically shattered. The good news is that with surgery it can be corrected, and you will be back and ready to continue your absurd amount of training in the coming year or two. The bad news is that there are a couple fragments of bone that we can't find. They're small enough to have entered a blood vessel. If they don't appear within the next few days, I'm afraid something horrible will happen if a piece makes it to your heart. There's nothing we can do for something like that. No one can. I want to keep you here for the next few days of course, and Dimitri is welcome to stay in the room as a guard of sorts. He informed me while you were out that whoever tampered with the weight bench was trying to kill you. Had it come down on your ribs like intended, you wouldn't be here with us right now. Eddie, Mason, I'm afraid I will need you two to take posts in the hallway outside of her room. I know you all are right below Dimitri in training." I nodded my head in thanks. When Dr. Olendski left the room, I let the anger show on my face that I had been hiding.

"I know Tasha is behind this! Can I see the pin?" Eddie handed me the pin, and I immediately saw that half of the broken section was smooth, like it had been cut with something. The other side was jagged, like metal should be when it breaks. I shook my head, handing the pin back to Eddie. They knew by the look on my face what I had seen. I let my head hit back against my pillow. I moved my right arm to push the hair out of my face like I always do, only to be met with excruciating pain.

"Oh my freaking god! How the hell am I supposed to function with one arm, let alone my non-dominate one? I'm not even gonna be able to fight for a year?! What the hell is that all about? Fighting is in my blood. If I can't fight, I'll die, apparently literally if the worst happens.

"Hey, calm down. Its okay, we'll figure out something. You said Lissa healed you before right? Maybe she can do it again." I nodded and let my head drop. I was starting to get very tired, and the fact I couldn't lie the way I wanted to was pissing me off. I always laid on my left side with my left arm stretched out under my head. Dimitri could see the source of my frustration, and moved closer to my bed, humming the Russian lullaby I loved. Before I knew it, I had drifted off into oblivion.

DPOV

As soon as Rose's breathing evened out, and her body finally fully relaxed, I stood up. Grabbing my phone again I walked into the hall, quietly shutting the door behind me. I hated to call him, but I didn't seem to have a choice. After all, I did promise him when I moved here two years ago that I would protect Rose with my life. The way things were going, I needed reinforcements. Eddie and Mason looked at me quizzically, but I just shook my head. The phone rang twice, until a deep voice answered.

"Abe Mazur."

"Abe, it's Dimitri. I think I need your help. Tasha's here, and she's already put Rose in the hospital with a shattered arm. She'll be fine I think, but I don't want to take any more risks."

"I understand. I'll be there in three hours."

**I do love cliffhangers.**

**Read and Review, or Tasha will get you!**

**RosemarieMazur**


	11. 16 Years Old: Old Man

I sighed, looking at the papers stacked in front of me. Ever since Janine had disappeared on a "top secret mission" as she referred to it two years ago, I had been forced to do all of the paperwork on top of the dirty work myself. I hadn't heard from her since May 3rd. I received a letter saying "Turkey and Russia as One." I knew she meant that Rose and Dimitri were together in a relationship, but I didn't know what type of relationship. I was still musing about them when my phone flashed and started ringing. I juggled the papers I had been holding in my left hand to my right hand, and answered my phone with the left.

"Abe Mazur."

"Abe, its Dimitri, I think I need your help. Tasha's here and she's already put Rose in the hospital with a shattered arm. She'll be fine I think, but I don't want to take any more risks." The papers I had been holding fell from my hand, landing in a jumbled mess on the mahogany desk in front of me. I swallowed my shock and replied.

"I understand. I'll be there in three hours."

When the connection went dead, I slammed my fist onto the desk. The wood cracked and splintered under my hand without even hurting me, much to my pleasure. I hadn't lost my fighting edge. I packed my things as quickly as I could, and told the servants to alert the captain of my private jet to be prepared to fly soon along with instructions on what to do with clients while I was away. Twenty minutes later I was sitting in front of the table in the jet, writing a letter for Janine.

**Janine,**

**I know you told me not to contact you unless it was an emergency, but I classify this situation as an emergency. Rosemarie has been injured severely as you probably already know, but it is Tasha that caused it. Tasha is in Montana now and I need your help before she triggers something she can't control. Please meet me at Rose's school soon.**

**Abe**

When I woke up Dimitri was entering my room, trying to silently shut the door behind him. I cleared my throat to let him know I was awake. He grinned sheepishly and shut the door, not caring about the noise anymore. Making his way to me, I saw something cross his face that looked like anxiety. When he sat next me, I grabbed for his hand. Gripping it tightly I looked up at him.

"Dimitri, there's something your hiding. What is it?" His eyes shifted to the floor and he let out a long breath.

"There's something I need to tell you. Before I left Russia, Abe came and visited me." My jaw dropped, and I let go of his hand.

"He asked me to keep an eye on you if I ever found you here. Luckily I did, so I contacted Abe again to tell him you were safe and happy. He had no idea where you were, so that if anyone ever tortured him for information on your whereabouts, he could honestly say he didn't know. I haven't had contact with him since then until a couple hours ago while you were sleeping. He's coming here to St. Vladimir's to help me protect you. Tasha's more of a threat then you think, and she wants more than to just split us up. Her father is the Boss of the underground Russian mafia, and he wants nothing more than for Tasha and me to get married and combine the two. He's the one who was killing men from our families and pinning the blame on the other."

"So that's why she wants you so bad. I can't let her keep at this and hurt more people! Next she might go after Lissa or Christian or one of my other close friends. I didn't want to ask her to do this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Call Lissa and tell her to get down here quickly."

"Rose! You look terrible!" Lissa ran in the room, her eyes wide and frantic. Her long blonde hair has been scraped up into a ponytail, and her clothes look disheveled like she had thrown them on in a hurry. Her jade eyes were slightly red, like she had been asleep for only a few hours before she was woken up. Looking at the clock explained her appearance. It was one in the morning; Dimitri must have woken her up when he called.

"Thanks Liss." I said dryly, rolling my eyes and smiling. She smiled back and sat at the chair by my side.

"Dimitri told me what's going on. How are you doing with all this stuff?"

"Good for now, but I wish I could defend myself if the need arises. The possible fact I could die in a couple days too isn't that cheering." I moved my arm, hissing in pain to prove my point.

"I'm gonna heal you Rose. Just let me grab something healthy to eat so I don't pass out later. I need some good energy." She moved from the chair, bolting out of the room to get food. The faster I was back in fighting shape, the better.

Fifteen minutes later, someone knocked on the door to my room in the infirmary. I was half sleep, and Dimitri was out cold. Groggily, I muttered a barely audible 'come in' and closed my eyes again.

"I'd say you're off your game Rosemarie, but you look like you're in pretty bad shape to start with." A deep voiced flooded the room, and my eyes snapped open. Images of my childhood came rushing into my mind, particularly my favorite memory of my father taking me to the park in the winter. Abe Mazur stood in the doorway, looking just as he did when I last saw him 13 years ago.

"Hey, I just had 200 pounds hit me, I'm possibly dying, and I still think I look pretty hot. Not many people can pull that off." I swatted at the back of Dimitri's head in an attempt to wake him up. Abe laughed with amusement faint in this expression. His face turned to a more serious expression, and he pulled up a chair on the other side of me.

"Kiz, I know that you may be angry at me for leaving you here, but I had my reasons." I motioned with my free hand for him to continue.

"When you were four, I started receiving letters from an unnamed man. He started threatening to kill you if I didn't hand over the business. I was about to do just that when your mother suggested we send you here, to America. Where you were to go specifically I didn't know, because we decided it would be best if I didn't know. Shortly after we sent you here, your mother disappeared on something she called 'a top secret mission'. I still don't know where she is, but I do know that she is hunting down Tasha, along with Tasha's father."

"Is she really doing that?" I couldn't hide the disbelief in my voice. I always thought that my Mom hated me, and she was never around because of that. She was actually protecting me by watching Tasha's movements.

"Yes Kiz. I also feel you should know that Dimitri's father and I were never fighting. We put the illusion out that we were, to help protect you both. Once we did that, whoever was trying to get us to fight let us alone. Only recently did attacks start again. We haven't found out much about them except that they work for Tasha's father, and they are referred to as Strigoi."

"I feared that was the case. How are you planning to deal with it?" Dimitri had woken without my knowing, and was stretching out his muscles. Abe looked at him and grinned.

"Dimitri my boy, always a man of action! It's nice to see you again." He stuck out his hand for Dimitri to shake, and he took it. I'll admit I was kind of shocked that they got along so well.

"Hey Rose, we just saw Lissa bolt in and out of here like a bat from hell. What's going... on..." Mason trailed off. Eddie and he had stepped into my room for a moment, no doubt concerned about Lissa abrupt entrance and departure.

"Um, Rose. Who's this?" Eddie spoke up, gesturing towards my father.

"Eddie, Mason, this is Rose's father, Abe Mazur." Their eyes widened, and Mason almost looked like he wanted to run. I laughed, but sucked in a breath when a sharp pain shot through my arm.

"Bad... Idea..." I gasped out, clutching my arm to my stomach again. Dimitri was frowning, looking at me with concern, and Abe was soothingly rubbing my back.

"Your hurt pretty bad, aren't you kiddo?" Abe looked down at my face, anger washing over his features. I remember when I was little how angry he would get when one of the men in the family would get injured by someone. He never liked seeing anyone he liked hurt, and I couldn't imagine how angry he must me right now with his little girl injured.

"I would call a shattered arm and possible death by splintered bone a 'minor injury'." I tried to joke, still grimacing in pain. Abe's face froze and he looked at me with terror.

"Splintered bone?" He whispered. I nodded. Gently, he gave me a hug.

"Oh my poor little girl, I'm so sorry I let this happen to you." I could tell he was distraught, and something tugged at my heart. I didn't like seeing him like this. Now that I knew he didn't abandon me for any reason, I felt close to him again.

"Dad, there's something you should know."

"What is it Kiz?"

"I died a couple years ago, and was brought back." All the color drained out of his face.

"..." He opened his mouth several times, but couldn't seem to get any words out.

"I was with Lissa's family, coming back from a trip. We were hit by a drunk driver and it killed everyone but her. My best friend Lissa is a medium of some sort, but she can heal people and animals. When she saw me dead, something in her snapped and she was able to heal me and bring me back to life. Now we have a bond of sorts, and I can hear her thoughts and sometimes slip into her mind, seeing what she sees. It's almost like she gave me a piece of her soul." Thinking about Lissa, I slipped into her mind for moment to see where she was. Luckily, she was coming down the hall to my room at that moment. Seconds later, she knocked twice and opened the door.

"Okay Rose, I'm ready to go." She didn't seem to notice Abe sitting beside me.

"Um, Lissa, this is my Dad. Dad, this is Lissa." Lissa's head snapped up. She had rarely heard me talk about my father. Their eyes met, and both seemed be mystified with the other.

"Thank you, for saving my daughter, and bringing her back to me." She smiled, and bowed her head.

"I can't live without her anymore than you can Sir." Looking back to me, she held out a hand for me to take. I grabbed her hand and nodded her to go on. She closed her eyes, and I felt a burning hot warmth come over me. I gasped at the pain, but felt none like I had earlier. A moment later, she let go of my hand and dropped into a chair. She was sweating slightly and looked exhausted. Experimentally I moved my fingers on my hurt arm. I jumped off the bed and gave Lissa a tight hug when I felt it was only slightly sore.

"Thank you so much. I owe you a shopping trip when this is all over, okay?" Lissa hugged me back and nodded, accepting my offer. I looked over at Abe when I was done thanking Lissa.

"Alright Old Man, where do we start to take down these Strigoi and that Bitch Tasha?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

**Read and Review please! **

**RosemarieMazur**


	12. 16 Years Old: I Love You

~Sixteen Years Old~  
>-Shopping Trip as Promised by Rose-<p>

"Remind me why the boys are tagging along behind us today?" Mia was digging through her bag, no doubt looking for her lip gloss again. We always joked with her that once something went in that bag, it did not come back out without a fight.

"There is a psychotic bitch trying to kill Rose and potentially us." Lissa casually answered back, while taking an aqua colored shirt off the rack and holding it up to herself.

"Geez you could at least sound remotely interested in the happenings of my mortality." I said dryly.

"Check the black one, it looks cute." I was leaning against the wall, watching Lissa and Mia scour through every single rack of the store we were currently in. Usually I would be right there with them, but I hadn't been feeling very good since I got up this morning. This was strange considering I had felt amazingly fine since Dr. Olendski let me go three weeks ago.

In those three weeks my Dad had moved into a guest dorm across campus for the time being, we had discussed that our next plan of action would be when Tasha showed up again, and that we would continue on like she hadn't shaken us all. Apparently pretending wasn't too hard for Mia and Lissa when shopping was involved. My dad had also actually employed Mason and Eddie to keep watch over Lissa, Mia and Me. When he told me about this arrangement, I asked why he hadn't offered the same deal to Dimitri.

"Kiz, I never even had to ask him to help me keep you safe almost two years ago." He chuckled and went back to his paper work.

Sighing, I massaged my temple with my free hand to ease my headache. I'd had one for the majority of the morning, and usually squeezing the muscle between my index finger and thumb would relieve my headaches but it wasn't working this time. Sighing again I turned to the bench where all the guys were loitering and asked Mason to get me a Pepsi. Maybe the caffeine would staunch the pounding in my head. I was staring at the adjacent wall, waiting for Mason to return when Lissa squealed. I jumped into a fighting position, ready to take out whoever was threatening Lissa.

"Rose! I just found the most amazing dress shirt and it's your size!" I heard everyone behind me sigh and relax. Christian was lightly banging his head off the wall. Hanging my head I slowly walked over to Lissa and took the shirt from her flailing hands. Without a word her hands were pushing me towards the dressing rooms.

"Here, go try this on! Oh, and I've been putting anything I thought you'd like in there to try on as well!" Before I knew it she had locked the door behind me, leaving me to stare at a gigantic mountain of pants, shirts, dresses, and tanks to try on. I swear she cleaned out half the store.

"Liss! I can't try all this on! What did you do, just grab every item that was my size and throw it in here?!" I felt her amusement through the bond, as well as the fact she wasn't letting me out until I had tried on and modeled everything. Sighing yet again, I went to work.

Two hours later I pulled on the final article of clothing from the pile and exhaled in relief. I was done.

"Come on Rose! Get out here and show off that dress so we can move on to the next store!" Oh god I'm gonna die. I still hadn't gotten my Pepsi, and my headache was growing steadily worse, officially border lining on a migraine. Dragging my bare feet across the carpet, I shuffled out to model the dress for Lissa. I'll have to admit, it was a gorgeous dress. With the low but not too low neckline and short hem, I knew I'd have every boy drooling after me if I wore this to any dances. As soon as I stepped into view, Mia wolf-whistled and Lissa nodded smugly.

"I knew that dress would fit perfectly! I swear I know what clothes will look gorgeous on you before I even find them!" I smiled at my best friends fashion cockiness and went back into the dressing room. After carefully putting the dress back on its hanger and slipping back on my jeans, shirt and jacket, I picked up my tennis shoes and walked back out into the shop floor. Lissa took the dress from me and rushed it up to the counter. I rolled my eyes at the obscene amount of clothes she had bought. I knew we would barely be able to get them in my closet, let alone the back of the van we took to the mall. I watched in amusement as Lissa struggled with the bags and Mason finally handed me my Pepsi. Sitting down on the bench the guys were on I cracked the lid open, being cautious not to spill any on the floor. Hopefully this would kick my headache. I was actually getting nauseous the pain was getting so bad.

Three stores later, we were at the food court getting lunch. It wasn't even noon yet and Lissa had already made two trips to the van seeing as no one else in our little group could carry any more bags. Relieved of said bags everyone was happy to settle down and munch on the plethora of food we had ordered. Still feeling sick, I only ate half a plain chicken sandwich from Chic-Fill-A and a couple bites of my strawberry dippin' dots.

"Rose, are you feeling okay? Usually you've already eaten two or three sandwiches and would be on your way for more dippin' dots." I pushed my cup forwards and put my head on the table.

"Not really. I've had a headache all morning and it's making me feel really sick." I had wondered if Dimitri could even hear me, but when he asked me if I wanted to leave I knew he did. I shook my head the best I could and told him I didn't want to ruin Lissa and Mia's fun.

"I'll call Abe and have him send a car, okay? You need to be in your dorm resting. Don't take this the wrong way but you look absolutely terrible." I didn't respond so Dimitri went ahead and called Abe. A short fifteen minutes later, I was being carried out to the waiting car. To my surprise it was a simple black car. I expected Abe to show up in a limo or an outrageously gaudy vehicle of some sort. Even more to my surprise, Abe was the one who got out from the driver's side and opened the door for us.

"Thanks for coming so quickly Abe. I think something's really wrong with her." I knew I looked terrible. My face was probably pale, there was a thin sheen of sweat on my forehead, and I was starting to get more nauseous than I had been all day. After setting me in the seat, Dimitri ran around to the other side, sliding across to sit right next to me. His hand came up to my face, probably feeling for a temperature.

"She's got what feels like a pretty bad fever too. Should we take her to the hospital?" I felt the gears shift in the car as we started moving. I groaned, slumping down in the seat.

"A hospital's too public- Tasha could easily sabotage something or pay someone to kill her. I trust that Dr. Olendski can take care of my daughter. I'll get anything she needs myself if need be." As touched as I was that my father cared that much about me, I couldn't quite focus on anything besides the growing pain in my head. I pressed my forearms tight against the sides of my head, hoping to gain some relief. I could tolerate broken bones, an upset stomach, even getting a black eye, but a headache? Rose Hathaway cannot deal with a headache. When I felt myself starting to drift off, I welcomed the relief it brought.

...

When I woke up, my headache wasn't any better. I still felt nauseous, dizzy, achy, and worst of all freezing cold. Shivering, I tried to sit up only to fall back on the bed with a whimper. The contents of my stomach were threatening to come up on me, and I still felt like hell.

"D-Dimitri? A-are you h-here? I'm s-so c-c-cold. P-please somebody..." Tears started to fall down my face against my will. It felt like there was a void in me- like I had nothing. No emotions, no nothing. I whimpered again, trying to curl up and get warm. This feeling of nothingness was threatening to take me over the edge when Dimitri came out of the bathroom with a hot cloth. I sat up the best I could, arms wrapped around me and my lip trembling.

"D-D-Dimitri. P-Please." I was sobbing by the time 'please' came out. Dimitri immediately hurried over to sit down and pull me in his arms. His back was against the wall, and I was sitting between his legs, curled up against his chest. I had my arms crossed over my chest and his arms were holding me tight against him. Usually I would be ashamed at losing it like this in front of anyone, but I was too sad to care.

"It's okay Rose. I'm here, I'll always be here for you, always. Never ever doubt that." I nodded, calming down slightly. After awhile of sitting in Dimitri's arms, he started to stroke my hair slowly. I let out a shaky sigh, relaxing slightly.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Dimitri's free arm tightened around me, holding me closer to him.

"For this." I murmured. He knew I was starting to feel embarrassed for breaking down.

"Don't be Rose. Never be ashamed for showing emotion, especially around me. We've been through so much together, and I- I don't want anything to keep us apart anymore." Dimitri tightened his grip on me, burying his face in my hair. Not questioning his odd behavior, I just wrapped my arms around him. It felt right being here with Dimitri.

"Please don't scare me like that again Roza." I felt him tightening his grip on me again. I scared him?

"You were out for two weeks Rose. They just did let me take you to your dorm room last night. The rest of the time you've been in the hospital wing of the infirmary. I was so scared."

"I was out for two weeks? Why?" I heard my voice shake and winced. I sounded terrible.

"They don't know. Dr. Olendski said it was something to do with your headache, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. Let's just hope it never happens again. To think I almost didn't have the chance to tell you that I..." Dimitri tightened his arms around me more, almost like he was afraid I would disappear.

"Tell me what Dimitri?" I pulled my head back so I could look him in the eyes. His eyes stared right back at mine, looking for something. After a few moments, he ran his hand along the side of my face, tracing my jaw line. Slowly he moved closer to me, giving me plenty of time to pull away if I wanted. When his lips were centimeters from mine, he spoke.

"I love you Roza." I drew back slightly, my eyes wide.

"Dimitri, I-I-I..." I saw a tiny flash of rejection flash through his eyes.

"I've never been good with words." My words were quiet, but he still smiled, leaned in, and then we kissed.


	13. 18 Years Old: Mr Ozera

~18 Years Old, two months before current timeline~  
>- Mazur Ballroom, Istanbul Turkey-<p>

"Attention, attention please! I would like to make a toast to my beautiful daughter, who graciously agreed to allow me the chance to throw her a ridiculously extravagant graduation party." Abe paused as everybody laughed in good nature. I rolled my eyes and smiled too. Dimitri threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. Even though we had been dating for almost two years now, I still got butterflies every time he looked at me like I was the most beautiful girl on the planet.

"I am so proud that she has graduated from St. Vladimir's- top of her class in the athletics program no less along with Belikov here! I can't wait to see what she'll do with her future. Hopefully soon I'll get the pleasure of hosting an engagement party." Abe turned to where Dimitri and I were standing, grinning and raising his glass. My cheeks flushed crimson red, while Dimitri just grinned and kissed the top of my head.

"Here's to Rose and Dimitri! Cheers!" I blushed harder when everyone turned to us smiling, and raising their glasses just as my father had. Luckily I already had a drink in hand to knock back. I hated feeling so embarrassed by my dad's toasts- and I was lucky the drinking age in Turkey is 18 instead of 21. Dimitri also had a drink in hand, but his had barely been touched. I'd have to ask him about that later, because most of the nights when we would be drinking in my dorm with Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Mason, and Mia, Dimitri would be right there getting just as trashed as we were. Not that we got trashed very often; only when the occasional drinking game got out of hand.

"So, how does it feel to be free and back in your native country again Miss Hathaway?" Barely hiding my surprise, I turned to see a rather tall man standing directly behind us. He was just a few inches shorter than Dimitri, had jet black hair, and was dressed in a very expensive looking suit. It was very similar to the type my father wore. To the average person I guess he would just look like a wealthy business man, but something about him put me on edge. He looked very familiar. I'd seen so many shows where the characters are confused about someone, and I would be practically shouting at the television about who it was. But now when I was faced with something similar in real life, I was clueless.

"It's great to be home, but I will miss the academy and my friends." The man was still smiling, but he had diverted his attention to Dimitri. He looked friendly, but I could see him taking in details in a predatory manner.

"What about you Mr. Belikov? Will you be returning to Russia or staying here with the lovely Rosemarie?" Dimitri's arm that was around my shoulders tensed slightly when my name was mentioned.

"For the time being I'm staying with Rose here in Istanbul. I just cannot bear to leave her for one second." The way Dimitri spoke sounded authoritative, almost as if he was challenging the mysterious man. His armed tightened around me slightly again. Apparently Dimitri either knew something I didn't or he just felt something was severely off with this man.

"Rose, Dimitri! Come here, I wanna talk to you all!" Lissa was somehow jumping up and down in her heals, waving excitedly.

"If you'll please excuse us, I believe our friends are calling for us." I tried to maintain the politeness in my voice, despite a dark looking coming over the man's face when Lissa called he nodded politely, and we took our leave. As soon as we were out of earshot, I looked at Dimitri with a questioning face.

"I don't know who he was Roza, but I don't like him. From the moment he approached us I felt like he was examining us, almost like he was looking for something. I'll say something to Abe after the party is over." I nodded, resting my head against Dimitri. It was only eleven yet I felt like I was dead on my feet. I wanted to take my heels off terribly, but the dress I'd bought for the party was just barely brushing the floor _with_ my five-inch heels on. I'd be tripping over the hem all night.

"Hey, are you alright? You look like you were pretty far out there for awhile." Dimitri and I were standing around the bar area at the east end of the ballroom, waiting for the last of the guests to leave. I let my head drop against Dimitri's shoulder again for the millionth time that evening.

"Yeah, I'm just exhausted for some reason. That and I'm regretting wearing these heels." I felt his chest rumble with laughter.

"Oh Roza. Just go ahead and take them off. There are only two more couples that are still here, and they're almost done talking to your father."

"I'll trip over my dress going up to my room." I pouted, crossing my arms. Chuckling he bent down to my level.

"Well if that's it, then I can easily offer a remedy." His hand around my shoulders slid to my lower back, sending chills up my spine.

"What would said remedy be, Dimitri?" I murmured, trying to hide my reaction to his touch.

"This." Before I could speak, I was swooped into his strong arms bridal-style. I giggled idiotically making Dimitri laugh again.

"I'm so happy you can make my daughter smile like that Belikov. Why don't you two go ahead upstairs? I'll stay with our guests." Dimitri nodded, and I told my Dad goodnight. I wrapped my arms tight around Dimitri's neck while he carried me upstairs to my room. I enjoyed the warmth radiating from him, especially since I was starting to get slightly cold. My dress was a floor length ball gown, with a halter neck and a back that dipped down.

When we made it to my room, Dimitri set me gently down on the bed. I was so tired I didn't even want to expend energy changing and washing the makeup off my face. Dimitri sat down next to me, smiling and sweeping the hair away from my face.

"You look like your gonna pass out Roza."

"Yeah..." I sighed and closed my eyes. I felt Dimitri kiss my forehead and start to leave, but I made a grab for his arm.

"Stay. Please." I opened my eyes, hoping I looked pleading. He sighed, and continued towards the door. Just as my heart sank, he paused for a moment at the door.

"You know I would never deny you Roza. I just need to change and I'll be back. Also if you're not in your pajamas by the time I come back, I won't stay. Love you." Then he was gone. Groaning I struggled to sit up and trudged to my walk-in closet. After two minutes of searching for shorts and a tank top, along with struggling to stay balanced with stepping out of my dress and heels, I eventually got dressed, but failed to make it back to my bed. The floor just looked so comfortable, and the bed was so far away. I was just starting to slip into a deep sleep when I heard chuckling.

"Did you seriously not even make it to the bed? What am I going to do with you Roza?" I stayed limp as Dimitri scooped me up again to carry me to the bed.

"You can feed me and love me. Yeah, that would work." I mumbled almost incoherently. He laughed again, slipping me under the covers and joining me moments later.

I loved the feeling of being in Dimitri's arms, because I felt like nothing in the world could touch me. I used to sleep terribly every night, but now I sleep with peaceful nightmare-free dreams because of him. If I didn't have Dimitri in my life I don't think I would have made it to graduation, especially last year when I was so sick. Dr. Olendski never did find out what exactly happened that put me out for two weeks, but she did conclude that it was very dangerous for me to get migraines that make me feel exhausted to the point of collapsing. I was given a medicine to take when a headache progressed into a migraine. The medicine made me sleepy so that I would sleep off the sickness that came with the migraines. The last time I had waited too long and put my body under that much stress, Dimitri forced me to swallow the pills. We had only been dating two or three months when this happened, and he honestly thought that I would end it I was so angry before the pills knocked me out. In the end it all worked out though, after telling Dimitri I basically turn into a she-devil when I'm not feeling well. I apologized, he apologized, and we went on as normal.

"Dimitri?" I curled in closer to him, trying to get warm. My Dad had always kept our house cold for some reason. I wasn't happy that I had to sleep with a million blankets just because 'the cold air is refreshing at any time'.

"Hmm?"

"I'm really cold."

"Just hold on a second." When he started to leave, I groaned in frustration. I was already cold enough to start shivering, and then he gets out of the bed and leaves the room. I let my flop back down on my pillow, awaiting Dimitri's return.

I must have dozed off in the minute he was gone, because I woke up to a mountain of plush brown blankets and comforters dumped on me. Struggling in my sleepy state, I lifted my upper body so I could see what he was doing. When he caught me looking at him, Dimitri just grinned and spread them all out over the bed.

"That's much better, but where did you find all these extra blankets?" I questioned as I snuggled back up against his side.

"My room, I barely ever sleep in there, and I know the maid will somehow make more bedding appear and make the whole room back up tomorrow." I sighed in contentment, happy to be warm and with the love of my life.

"I love you Dimitri."

"I love you too Roza, forever and ever with all my heart."

I was having an amazing dream about going to the beach with all my friends and Dimitri, until my rumbling stomach woke me up- at four in the morning! Slightly irritated I had to get up and because I was hungry, I made my way down to the kitchen.

"Hmm, let's see what we have here. Eggs, leftover mac and cheese, chicken, lunch meat..." I shook my head at everything. It all required some level of preparation, which I was not willing to make an effort and do. Luckily my Dad had stocked my favorite cereal from when I was little- Cinnamon Life. Humming quietly I retrieved a bowl, spoon, milk, and the cereal. After I had poured a bowl that was definitely too large for the average person, I sat down at the island facing the windows that stretched from ceiling to floor. I felt fine the first few minutes as I ate in silence, until I got the uncomfortable feeling of someone watching me. I thought about just dumping the rest if the cereal and going back to bed with Dimitri, but I instead sat in the same spot and continued eating my cereal. Oh how I wished I had went upstairs.

Before I could even move a muscle, the windows shattered into millions of sharp, tiny pieces. Several very muscular men ran in through the windows effectively cut off any escape routes I could have used. I was in a fighting stance already when one more person stepped in from the night. It was the man from the party. The man who Dimitri didn't think was right from the start.

"Ah, it's nice to see you again Rosemarie. I'm so sorry about the mess I've made, but I had no other way to get to you with the Russian around. By the way I am Mr. Ozera, Tasha's father." My heart dropped. I was about to be kidnapped by an underground mob boss. Cursing inwardly for letting him talk and not calling Dimitri, I solidified my stance. There was no way in hell I was going without a fight.

"Dimitri! Dad! Someone please help me! Mr. Ozera's trying to kidnap me! Please help me!" I heard a muffled bang from upstairs and knew it was Dimitri jumping from the bed. As soon as I heard his first steps down the staircase, the fight began. The man closest to me tried to throw a punch at my stomach so I would double over, but I dodged it and flipped him over my shoulder. I hissed as I felt muscles and tendons tear, but I was literally fighting for my life.

"Rose!" I glanced over my shoulder for a split second to see Dimitri and my Dad fighting their way towards me. I knew Dimitri could kick some ass, but seeing my Dad fight was just amazing. Despite me teasing him by calling him an old man all the time, he was still in prime fighting condition. Unfortunately that momentary observation cost me and I felt a foot connect with my ribs. I heard a definite crack, but my adrenaline was running too high to feel anything. I was just thankful my lung didn't get damaged. Feeling freshly pissed off again, I went after the one who had just struck me. To my surprise it had been a girl who got me. Since I was fighting for my life, and I wasn't above fighting dirty in situations like this, I immediately went for her mask, ripped it off, and grabbed her by the ponytail. She screeched from the pain, and turned her head the best she could to look at me.

"Tasha!" I hissed, recognizing the face. I hadn't seen her for two years, and had foolishly let my guard down. Perhaps that was why Dad didn't mind Dimitri staying with me; so I'd have the extra protection. Without mercy I started to wail on her, wanting to hurt her badly because of all the pain she had caused to my family, my friends, me, and most importantly Dimitri. She had taken so many nights from him by trying to kill me. There was a week one time where Dimitri didn't sleep a bit because he had a bad feeling someone was watching me. We never saw anyone, but I wouldn't put it past a psychotic bitch like Tasha to be a top-notch stalker.

I had pinned Tasha to the ground, ready to deliver one final hit to knock her out.

"I have to admit Hathaway, you're pretty strong. But that won't make him yours. He will never be y-" I punched her out before she could even finish.

"I hope you rot Bitch." I looked around for Dimitri and my Dad when I was there was still two figures dressed in black on the other side of the kitchen. I started to jump up to attack them, until I saw they were restraining Mr. Ozera. Confused I tilted my head slightly and looked at Dad. He smiled and walked up to where the figures were standing. Dimitri followed to where we were and started to ask me if I was hurt, bleeding, etc. After confirming I wasn't, as far as I let him see, we both turned to my Dad for some explanations.

"When I figured out it was Mr. Ozera who was also trying to kill you, I sent in two of my most trusted and best spies. They were to infiltrate Ozera's mob, gain data, and be a part of any attacks on anyone of us to be backup. Thankfully these two are who saved our bacon tonight. I looked around and saw that he was probably right. So many bodies littered the ground; there was no way just three of us could have taken on that many.

"Well Ozera. I've finally caught you, you conniving bastard." Abe was standing near the spy closest to the windows, sneering at Mr. Ozera. Shockingly, Dimitri walked over directly in front of him and crouched down to where Dad's spies had him held.

"Mark my words Ozera. You will pay for hurting Rose, and her father. Even if you must die, I will kill you myself." I almost didn't recognize Dimitri for a second, but then I remembered how angry and scared he had looked when he saw me surrounded by those men and Tasha. Just as Dimitri was about to stand up again, Mr. Ozera suddenly broke one hand free, wielding a small pocket knife.

"No Dimitri!" I screamed, watching in horror as Mr. Ozera aimed to slash his throat. Without thinking, I launched myself at them. I felt a sharp lace of pain from my collarbone run across my shoulder, and heard a cracking noise. When I landed a few feet away, I was so afraid to look back and see what had made the cracking sound. Shakily I got up and faced where Mr. Ozera had been. Dimitri was lying on the ground stunned, but unharmed. Then what was the cracking noise?

"Abe, he's dead." The spy Dad had been standing next to had taken off his mask, and was looking at Mr. Ozera. At first I couldn't figure out how he was dead. Then I saw his head was lying at an unnatural angle.

"When Rose tackled them both, he must have hit the floor so hard his neck snapped." The other spy took of their mask, and much to my surprise it was a girl.

"Wait, so I, I killed him?" My voice cracked and I started shaking so bad I collapsed into a heap on the floor. Dimitri was on his feet and over to me in half a second flat.

"Shh Roza, it's okay. It'll all be all right." Dimitri had pulled me into his lap, while gently swaying back and forth.

"No, Dimitri. It won't be alright because I've just killed the Underground Russian Mob Boss."

"Wait, isn't that a good thing?"

"No, because now everyone in that whole place will be after Rose's head, especially now that Tasha will be running it." The strange woman said, glancing around the broken windows. My jaw dropped when I saw Tasha wasn't on the floor anymore, where I'd knocked her out.

"So now Tasha has unlimited resources to kill me."

"Pretty much." She replied sadly.

"Now I've really gone and dug my own grave."

* * *

><p><strong>Poor Rose. If you all are super nice I'll update in two days time with another super long chapter like this one.<strong>

**Read and Review please!**


	14. 18 Years Old: Do You Want Kids?

**So yeah… I'm finally back. Sorry for the wait and I'm not going to even fiddle with some lame excuse as to why I've been absent. I simply just forgot to write and time slipped away. Before I knew it a year had passed and a group of angry/ awesome/ sad readers wanted me to get my ass back in gear and start working on this story again. So here I am!**

* * *

><p>~18 Years Old, Two Weeks After the Incident; One Month and Two Weeks Before the Current Timeline~<br>~The Mazur Estate: Istanbul, Turkey~

**Dear Janine,**

**I know we never got to meet at the Academy, but I know you probably found a lead on Tasha and had to go investigate that first. Rosemarie is doing much better than the last time I wrote. Her friend Vasilisa mended her arm, and the strange sickness Rose had for a trying time has seemed to disappear for the time being, but I am still concerned as to where these migraines originate from. Dimitri and Rose are in a steady relationship to my delight, and he is guarding her as protectively as any of my best men could. **

**However this letter carries some grim and game-altering news. Two weeks ago an attack was made on the house right after Rose's graduation party. Ozera and his men busted through the windows of the kitchen, and attempted to take Rose as she was eating a midnight bowl of cereal (some things just never change). Luckily she yelled for us and we were able to help fend off the attackers with the help of my two spies. After a series of events we had Ozera restrained on the floor when he pulled a knife and attempted to sever Dimitri's throat. Rose tackled the both of them, injuring herself on the knife and accidently snapping Ozera's neck. Tasha had fled the scene before we could restrain her. Now she was full command of the Ozera group and will stop at nothing to get to Rose. I'm very concerned Janine. I need you to try and find Tasha and take her out. If this task cannot be completed then please come home to us and help me protect our daughter. **

**Abe**

I woke up in the middle of the night when a sharp twinge of pain ran through my left side. The physical evidence of the knife had healed over with the exception of some tender areas of pink flesh, but I would still feel twinges of pain when I moved the wrong way, as I had when I tried to shift in my sleep.

"Roza? Are you okay?" Dimitri sat up in the bed, the covers pooling around his waist. I rubbed the area between my shoulder and my collar bone to alleviate the sudden pain.

"I'm fine, I just tried to put my arm under my head again." Dimitri gave me a skeptical look before sighing, and wrapping an arm around my waist to pull me back down with him. I was secretly thankful that Dimitri was so cuddly at night, especially on the nights the house was extra cold or when the nightmares were worse than usual. My initial nightmares of Tasha had faded considerably until two weeks ago. Now I dreamt of that awful sound Ozera's neck made, while Tasha stood with Dimitri in another place, kissing him until she looked at me and whispered, "Game Over Mazur." I always woke up at that point, torn between fury, heartbreak, and regret. Sometimes I would cry silently until I fell back into oblivion from exhaustion, and sometimes a cry would rip its way free before I could stop it. Dimitri would wake up and hold me tight while whispering comforting things in my ear.

"Any nightmares tonight?" I shook my head before remembering he couldn't see me very well in the dark.

"No, shockingly, just moving my arm the wrong way. I'm fine though." Dimitri pulled me tighter against him before whispering how he couldn't stand to lose me. How he would crumble and die if I wasn't in his life anymore. I sighed deeply before muttering I loved him too.

We lied awake for some time, neither of us breaking the silence but I had so many questions with no answers and possible scenarios trapped in my head, I just had to ask Dimitri a question to get them to stop.

"Do you want kids one day?" I felt Dimitri start for a moment, then start laughing softly before turning over to face me again.

"What brought this on?" I scooted closer to him, but still stayed far enough so that I could see what little of his face was illuminated in the soft moonlight filtering through the shades on the window. I shrugged.

"I have so many unanswerable questions and bad things popping up in my head. I feel like just metaphorically planning something will help take my mind off of things and help me de-stress a little. Dimitri hummed in agreement before answering my question.

"I think I would, but what about you Roza?" I laughed lightly; happy Dimitri was willing to go along with my little fake scenario.

"Perhaps, I know I'd be scared out of my mind, but I'd have you with me to help and stuff at least." Dimitri pulled me a little closer before continuing.

"Yes, I'd never leave your side Roza, especially if a child or children were involved." My recently emotionally cracked heart seemed to mend itself a little. I had been feeling such awful regret and horror at myself for killing someone. Sure he had been insane and trying to kill me or Dimitri, but that hadn't given me the right to kill him in return. Well, I guess it did but I was still feeling bad about the whole ordeal.

"Hey, stop thinking about that. Let's back up a little and ask ourselves if we were to get married, where would it be?"

"I've never been one of those girls who planned out her entire wedding by the age of sixteen, but I like the thought of a beach wedding." He hummed in agreement again and I knew he wanted to me continue.

"I like the feel of the sun on my skin, especially when the sun's setting. I remember not wanting to leave the beach and go back to the house when Liss and I were at the beach when we were thirteen. I just felt so… peaceful out there."

"I do like the sun as much as you do. What time of year would you want to do it? Don't forget poor me will be sweltering in a tux." I laughed gently and let him pull me so that my head was lying on his chest as he rolled to lie on his back.

"I think that maybe in the spring would be a good time, when the weather is still cool but starting to warm up. Kind of like when there's a cold day and the only thing keeping you from wearing a long-sleeve shirt is the sun."

"How many people would we invite? Would it be a small wedding or a large one?"

"I like the idea of just friends and family, which in itself is pretty large." We both shared a laugh, knowing what I said was true.

"Where would we go for the honeymoon? Would we stay on the beach, so somewhere else, or is there anywhere else specific you have in mind?" I had never really thought about the honeymoon per say. In all honesty the thought made me blush, despite Dimitri and I sharing a bed for over a year now.

"I've never really thought about it. Where would you want to go?" Dimitri's hand rubbed my arm gently as he hummed in thought.

"I like the idea of staying on a beach, but since the weather wouldn't be warm enough we could possibly go to a different beach where the weather is hotter. Maybe even the Mazur private beach?" I nodded happily at the idea.

"The sun plus Dimitri equals a happy Rose." We both laughed before I yawned.

"Are you getting sleepy Roza?" I nodded.

"A little, but I want to keep talking. This is really nice."

"Alright, let's skip forward again. If we decided to have kids, and it was a girl, what would you want to name her?"

"That depends; do we want her name to be Russian, Turkish, or American?"

"I'm not sure Roza, I guess it depends if a certain name pops out at us. Do you have any ideas?"

"I've always liked the name Alexandra, and it's Russian, perhaps Annabeth but it's American. I don't want her to get made fun of for a name that may sound silly to other kids her age. Which makes me wonder, where would we live? Here in Turkey or in Russia? I guess that would influence some things."

"I think it would. Where do you want to live?" I shook my head and rose up to look at the man letting me make every decision.

"Don't ask me what I want; what do you want to do? Honestly?"

"Honestly?" I nodded and rested my head back on his chest.

"I think I'd like to live here, with your father and mother, and perhaps even my mother and sisters. Abe's been trying to get them to come here for around a year now. Mama and my father have been separated for some time now, but she's still afraid that if she goes too far and he will get angry and drag her back." Dimitri sighed and laced his free hand with mine that was lying on his chest.

"I haven't seen Victoria since she was born. What's she like now?"

"She acts like any typical fifteen-year-old. Bratty, complains constantly, always wanting to go out with her friends late at night. She's definitely a Belikova though—she's been kicked out of St. Basil's twice now for beating the crap out of some kids; two boys actually who had been picking on her and her friend. One day she snapped and they've never bothered her again." I laughed and could only picture a younger version of Karoline going crazy on some mean boys.

"I want them to come here too. I miss your family Dimitri." He kissed my head and agreed with me.

"So back to baby names, if it's a boy what would we name him?"

"Bob."

"No, and I know you're just trying to be funny Roza."

"Hey who said I'm trying? You're smiling aren't you?" I grinned and looked up at Dimitri. He was grinning like I was, happy to just be enjoying ourselves for the first time in a while.

"Alright but seriously, what would you want to call him? I kind of like the name Markus." I scrunched my nose up and shook my head.

"There was a boy named Marcus at St. Vlads when I was eight, and he constantly tried to pick fights with me, stole my lunch, and things like that. I beat the crap out of him and his parents withdrew him and transferred him to another school." Dimitri was laughing after my little story, and I was all too happy to join in with him. That kid really was an asshole though.

Before we could continue our discussion, we were both drifting off into unconsciousness, forgetting for the first time in forever all of the troubles and worries on our shoulders.

The next morning I was half asleep at the bar in the kitchen, my head resting on the counter while Dimitri made me a cup of hot chocolate. I didn't even look up when I heard footsteps enter the kitchen.

"So Kiz, how'd you sleep last night?" I mumbled out something even I didn't understand.

"Understandable. So when were you planning on tell your old man about your big news?" I still didn't move and flipped him off before letting my hand drop back down to its hanging position.

"Well since my daughter has yet to become functional, you'll have to stand in Dimitri. When were you two planning to tell everyone the big news?" I groaned and slowly looked up as Dimitri set my steaming mug of wonderful chocolate goodness in front of me and took the seat next to me.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about Abe." I lifted up my head just far enough to be able to take a drink of the hot chocolate. Too bad it didn't get to stay in my mouth as what my father said next made me spit it out all of him and Dimitri.

"That I'm going to have a grandchild!" Cue the spewing of the wonderful chocolate goodness.

"What the hell Abe, where did you even get that idea from? I'm definitely not pregnant, nor will I be for awhile yet." He started to laugh hysterically while I got up to retrieve some paper towels for poor Dimitri. Abe could soak in it for all I cared.

"I'm sorry Kiz; I had to mess with you. I overheard just a snippet of your conversation last night, but caught that everything was just theoretical. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to screw with the two of you once the idea popped into my head." I let my head lightly slam back onto the counter and groaned.

"You are such an ass sometimes, you know that?"

"Where do you think you get it from, wonderful daughter of mine?" He walked off, still laughing to himself as I wallowed in my reluctance to get up awhile longer.

"You know, Rose, we could have just went ahead and told him you were pregnant. Maybe he would have taken the new better that way." I quickly caught on to what Dimitri was trying to do.

"Dimitri, keep your voice down! I don't want him to know I'm really pregnant yet. What if he gets angry and tried to hurt you?" We were both grinning as we moved to the hallway slowly, waiting for my father to come running out or something.

"Rosemarie Mazur! How dare you lie to your father!" Abe came out of his office in his, as I liked to call it, angry business man stride. I waited until he was standing before me to playfully punch his arm and say,

"I'm sorry Baba; I had to mess with you. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to screw with you once the idea popped into my head." I was grinning evilly while I spoke, watching the grin slowly spread across his face as well.

"I think I may have trained you too well, Kiz. Well played, well played."

**So this is basically a filler chapter to help get into the swing of things again. I was originally not going to post this chapter at all and simply let it set in my files, however I actually liked the relaxed and easy theme of it too much to discard it. It wasn't written in the plot I have in my notes, but I rather liked it and decided to add it.**

**To the readers who have stuck with me through these past two years or so, I thank you immensely. I also wish to thank those of you have written me e-mails and personal messages telling me to more or less get my ass in gear and do some writing. I'm very trilled to be starting back up with story, and to finally finish it. Depending on how well of a response I get at the end of the story will determine if a sequel follows or not. **

**Happy reading**


End file.
